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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Division 

Section   A. r^.>D\..h^. 

Number V>    C 


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1 


AN 


AMERICAN  COMMENTARY 


ON    THE 


NEW   TESTAMENT. 


EDITED  BY 

ALVAH  HOVEY,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


y^ 


PHILADELPHIA: 

AMERICAN   BAPTIST   PUBLICATION   SOCIETY, 

1420  Chestnut  Street. 


COMMENTARY 


ON   THE 


EPISTLE   OE  JUDE. 


BY 

NATHANIEL  MARSHM AN  WILLIAMS,  D.  D. 


18 


PHILADELPHIA: 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

1420   Chestnut  Street. 


Entered,  according  to  A.et  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1888,  by  the 

AMERICAN    BAPTIST   PUBLICATION   SOCIETY, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE. 


I.  JUDE. 

The  name  of  our  author  in  Hebrew  would  have  been  Yehuda  (Judah) ;  in  Greek  it  is 
loudas  (Jude).  It  means  praise,  honor.  A  Jude  was  an  apostle.  (Luke  6  :  16;  Acts 
1:13.)  Tliat  Jude  was  also  called  "  Lebbeus,  whose  surname  was  Thaddeus  "  (Matt.  10  : 
3) ;  Thaddeus.  (Mark  3  :  18.)  In  the  Common  Version,  he  is  called  "  the  brother"  of 
James,  but  there  being  in  the  original  no  word  for  brother,  the  question  has  been  raised 
whether  brother  or  son  should  be  supplied.  In  our  Epistle  brother  is  not  supplied,  but  is 
a  translation.  Was  the  writer  a  brother  of  Jesus  and  also  an  apostle  ?  or,  was  he  only  a 
brother  of  the  Lord  and  not  an  apostle?  Were  the  "brothers"  of  the  Lord  actual 
brothers?  or,  were  they  cousins?  These  questions  have  been  much  discussed.  Not 
even  an  outline  of  the  argument  on  either  side  can  be  given  ;  the  student  will  find  aid  in 
Meyer,  Ai-naud,  Alford,  Lange,  Schafi",  Andrews,  Smith's  "Bible  Dictionary,"  EUicott, 
Farrar,  Mombert  (an  Excursus  in  Lange),  and  elsewhere.  Such  difficulties  attend  the 
subject,  that  a  decision  seems  to  be  impossible.  The  "cousin  theory  "rests  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  it  is  not  for  the  honor  of  Mary  to  suppose  that  she  had  any  other  children, 
and  not  for  the  honor  of  Jesus  to  suppose  that  he  had  any  brothers;  and  to  this  assump- 
tion one  may  be  easily  led  by  false  views  of  marriage.  He  who  holds  to  the  perpetual 
virginity  of  Mary,  never  yet  proved,  must  believe  that  the  "  brothers"  of  Jesus  were  not 
brothers.  With  the  cousin  theory  has  been  connected  excessive  honoring  of  Mary  (Mari- 
olatry). 

Of  the  life  of  Jude  considered  as  a  younger  brother  of  the  Lord,  and  not  as  an  apostle 
(the  view  which  seems  to  have  the  fewest  difficulties),  little  is  known.  He  was  at  first  an 
unbeliever.  (John  7:5.)  His  conversion  may  have  occurred  soon  after  the  resurrection 
of  Christ.  (Acts  1  :  14.)  The  Epistle  yields  almost  the  only  data  for  estimating  Jude's 
mental  traits,  and  though  these  prove  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  clear  perception,  vivid 
imagination,  intense  sensibility,  and  strong  will,  they  are  not  sufficient  for  making  a 
thorough  analysis.  He  may  have  been  of  a  more  tender  nature  than  his  Epistle  alone 
would  lead  us  to  suppose.  The  vehemence  of  his  spirit  is  not  vindictiveness,  but  results 
&om  deep  conscientiousness.  It  is  the  fruit  of  loyalty  to  Christ,  made  more  than  usually 
intense  by  knowledge  of  the  rapid  spread  and  growing  insolence  of  error  in  the  churches. 
Following,  as  the  epistles  stand  in  the  English  Testament,  John's  sweet  breathings  of 
love,  Jude's  concentrated  invective,  however  just  and  needful,  is  like  a  tornado  following 
the  still  hours  of  a  summer's  day 

II.   THE  OBJECT  AND  THE  PLAN  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 

The  object  is  to  exhort  the  readers  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith.  (Ver.  3.)  The 
necessity  for  so  doing  was  great.     Certain  men,  who  had  come  stealthily  into  the  churches, 

3 


4  INTEODUCTION  TO  THE  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE. 

were  turning  the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying  the  only  Lord  God,  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  save  the  churches  from  the 
ruin  which  threatened  them. 

The  Epistle  is  very  methodical,  and  as  method  is  sometimes  supposed  to  be  unfavor- 
able to  feeling,  the  union  here  of  strict  method  and  intense  feeling  should  be  noted.  The 
usual  form  of  salutation  precedes.  (Ver.  1,  2.)  After  announcing  the  object  (ver.  3), 
and  expressing  the  urgent  necessity  for  writing  and  exhorting  (ver.  4),  the  writer  first 
reminds  the  readers  of  the  destruction  sent  in  ancient  times  upon  unbelieving  Israelites 
(ver.  5),  sinning  angels  (ver.  6),  and  the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  (Ver.  7.) 
Then  he  proceeds  to  characterize  the  new  class  of  sinners  (ver.  8-16),  conti-asting  them 
as  to  one  of  their  traits,  with  Michael  the  archangel.  In  the  course  of  the  description  he 
shows  by  a  quotation  from  the  book  of  "  Enoch  "  (Henoch),  that  the  men  in  question  had 
been  the  object  of  prophetic  denunciation.  (Ver.  14,  15.)  The  description  closed  (ver. 
16),  the  readers  are  reminded  that  the  coming  of  such  men  had  been  declared  by  the  apos- 
tles ;  are  exhorted  to  make  spiritual  progress ;  to  expect  eternal  life  through  the  mercy 
of  God ;  and  to  make  a  wise  discrimination  in  their  methods  of  treating  the  deceived 
members  of  the  church.     The  Epistle  closes  with  an  uncommonly  rich  doxology. 


III.   CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 

The  Epistle  is  both  original  and  dependent.  The  latter  is  seen  in  its  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter.  See  Introduction  to  that  Epistle,  III.  The  pas- 
sages which  are  similar  are  the  following  : 


2  Peter  1 : 

5. 

Jude  3. 

"      2: 

1. 

4. 

"      2: 

4. 

6. 

"       2: 

6,  9,  10. 

7,  a 

"       2: 

11. 

9. 

"       2: 

12. 

10. 

"       2: 

15. 

11, 

u       2: 

13-17. 

12,  13. 

"       2: 

18. 

16. 

"       3: 

1-3. 

17,  18. 

Farrar  ("  Early  Days  of  Christianity  "),  in  his  translation  of  the  Epistle  has  attempted 
10  show  what  he  regards  as  "the  affinity  between  this  Epistle  and  Second  Peter,  by  printing 
in  italics  those  identical  or  closely  analogous  words  and  phrases  which  occur  in  both. "  He 
presents  about  fifty-seven  instances.  In  some  of  the  cases  adduced  the  resemblance  is 
very  marked  :  but  in  several  of  them  it  is  clearly  unjust  to  allege  either  designed  or  unde- 
signed imitation,  whether  by  Peter  or  by  Jude.  Some  of  the  words  cited  are  common 
property.  A  slave  (more  correctly  a  bondservant)  of  Jesiis  Christ,  is  used  by  Paul  in 
Rom.  1  :  1 ;  a  servant  of  God,  in  Titus  1  :  1  ;  a  servant  of  God,  in  James  1  :  1,  as  well  as 
in  Peter  and  Jude.  Kept  is  used  in  John  17  :  11,  in  1  Peter  1  :  5,  and  elsewhere.  Angels 
is  so  common  a  word  that  it  is  useless  to  cite  cases.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  use  of  such 
a  word  shows  any  special  "affinity"  between  Peter  and  Jude.  The  same  maybe  said 
of  the  very  common  words  denied,  day,  Master,  Jesus  Christ,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
flesh,  example,  blameless,  majesty,  power,  now.  Amen.     The  address,  beloved,  is  common 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE. 


to  Peter,  John,  and  Jude.  To  remind  ("put  you  in  remembrance,"  Common  Version)  is 
common  to  Luke,  John,  Jude,  and  Peter.  Yet  some  words  and  phrases  are  so  pecuHar  as 
to  show  that  one  of  the  two  writers  (Jude  or  Peter)  must  have  been  in  some  degree  depend- 
ent on  the  ether.  Many  hold  that  Jude  wrote  first  and  some  that  Peter  wrote  first.  If, 
on  literary  grounds,  it  may  seem  more  probable  that  the  former  was  the  original  writer, 
yet  it  seems  improbable  that  the  greatest  of  the  twelve  apostles  would  borrow  so  freely 
from  one  who  held  a  eomiiaratively  obscure  position  in  the  primitive  Church.  It  has 
been  affirmed  that  the  milder  phraseology  of  l*eter  proves  that  the  apostle  purjjosely 
toned  down  the  severe  language  of  Jude.  This  is  possible,  but  it  is  equally  possible  that 
Jude  was  stimulated  by  the  apostle's  powerful  denunciations  to  write  with  still  greater 
severity  against  the  error  and  immorality  with  which  he  may  be  presumed  to  have  been 
brought  into  closer  contact  than  even  Peter  himself,  whether  Peter  were  still  in  the  dis- 
tant eastern  city  of  Babylon  (1  Peter  5  :  13),  or  in  Rome  as  a  prisoner.  Assuming  that 
Peter  wrote  first,  concerning  which,  probably,  there  will  always  be  opposite  ojiiniotis,  the 
questions  arise  :  Did  Jude  deliberately  copy  from  Peter  ?  Or,  was  he  so  jicrmeated  with 
Peter's  thoughts  and  langmige  that  he  unconsciously  used  his  material?  In  modern 
times  the  former  would  have  been  plagiarism  (Latin,  plagium,  kidnapping).  Kidnapping 
thought  in  another's  words  is  a  vice  which  was  not  unrecognized  by  literary  men  in  ancient 
Rome.  But,  as  has  been  remarked,  neither  epistle  shows  slavish  dependence,  actual 
copying,  literary  poverty  and  incapacity;  but  whichever  should  be  held  as  posterior,  it 
was  prepared  with  literary  freedom.  The  question  of  priority  has  been  discussed  by 
Huther,  Dietlein,  Farrar,  and  others.  Though,  as  the  present  writer  thinks,  Jude  wrote 
later  than  Peter,  yet  his  epistle  is  marked  for  not  a  little  originality,  which  is  seen  even  in 
his  bolder  and  severer  utterances  of  what  the  apostle  says  in  a  manner  more  restrained, 
and  of  which  more  particular  notice  will  be  taken  in  our  study  of  the  text.  M\  that  has 
been  said  concerning  the  style  of  Peter's  Second  Epistle,  may  be  said  concerning  Jude's 
with  added  emphasis. 


IV.    THE  AUTHENTICITY  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 

That  Jude  was  its  author  may  be  believed  for  the  following  reasons  :  It  is  mentioned 
in  the  Latin  Muratoriau  Fragment,  the  Greek  original  of  which  was  written  about  A.  D. 
170.  This  Fragment  put  the  Epistle  among  those  books  concerning  which  there  was 
some  difference  of  opinion  ;  yet  it  says  that  it  is  received  in  the  Catholic  [Church],  or  is 
reckoned  among  the  Catholic  [Epistles].  It  is  ascribed  to  Jude  by  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria, A.  D.  165-220,  in  Eusebius.  Origen,  A.  D.  186-253,  often  quotes  it;  Tertullian  also, 
latter  half  of  the  second  century  ;  the  author  of  a  treatise  "  commonly  appended  to  the 
works  of  Cyprian,  in  which  it  is  quoted  as  Scripture  "  (Westcott) ;  Malchion,  A.  D.  260- 
272,  a  presbyter  of  Antioch  ("a  clear  allusion  to  the  Epistle  of  Jude  ").  It  is  quoted  by 
Palladius,  a  friend  of  Chrysostom,  A.  D.  407.  It  "is  contained  in  the  Laodicene  A.  D. 
363,  Carthaginian  A.  D.  397,  and  so-called  Apostolic  catalogues"  (Smith's  "Bible  Dic- 
tionary.") Though  it  was  early  received  as  a  part  of  God's  word,  yet  it  was  not  received 
without  some  hesitation,  this  arising  not  from  fear  that  it  was  a  forgery,  but  from  knowl- 
edge of  its  peculiar  character,  and  from  its  similarity  to  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter. 
Concerning  its  alleged  quotations  from  the  apocry})hal  book  of  Henoch,  see  on  verse 
14.  Its  internal  character  is  not  inconsistent  with  Christian  teaching  elsewhere,  and 
shows  the  author  to  have  been  an  intense  lover  of  Christians  and  Christian  truth. 


6  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE. 

V.    TIME,  PLACE  OF  WRITING,  AND  TO  WHOM  SENT. 

Neither  of  these  can  be  determined.  Palestine  may  have  been  the  place  where,  and 
the  time  suggested  varies  from  A.  D.  64  to  A.  D.  80.  If  the  Epistle  was  written  later 
than  Peter's  and  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  latter  is  highly  probable,  it 
must  have  been  written  during  the  interval  between  the  death  of  Peter  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  citj' — that  is,  before  A.  D.  70.  (Fronmiiller. )  That  it  was  written  before  Jeru- 
salem was  destroyed  is  to  be  presumed  from  its  silence  relative  to  that  event.  It  does 
not  profess  to  be  sent  to  any  given  Church.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  apostolic  period,  its 
warnings  were  greatly  needed. 


THE  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE. 


JUDE,  the  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  brother  of 
James,   to   llieui   that   are  sauctitied   by    God   the 
Father,  and  preserved  iu  Jesus  Clirist,  und  called  : 

'2  Mercy  unto  you,  and   peace,  and  love,  be  multi- 
plied. 


1  1  Jude,  a  'servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  brother  of 
James,  a  to  theiu  llial  are  called,  beloved  iu  (jod  the 

2  l^'alher,  aud  kept  for  Jesus  ('hrlst:  Mercy  unto  you 
aud  peace  and  love  be  multiplied. 


1  Or.  Judat 2  6r.  bondservant 3  Or,  to  them  that  are  beloved  in  Ood  the  Father,  and  kept/or  Jeeua  Cliritt,  beiDg  called. 


1,  2.  Inscription  and  Invocation. 

1.  Jnde.  See  Introduction,  I.  The  ser- 
vant— bond-servant.  See  on  2  Peter  1:  1,  and 
especially  on  1  Peter  2:  18  (" servants  ') 
Brother  of  James.  See  Introduction,  I. 
The  writer  may  have  referred  to  James,  be- 
cause the  latter  was  better  known.  James 
had  the  oversight  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem, 
wrote  the  Epistle  of  James,  and  was  a  man  of 
influence.  (Acts  12;  i7;  i5: 13-32;  oai. 2:9.)  A  man  of 
no  humilitj'  would  have  taken  pains  to  men- 
tion his  kinship  to  the  Lord;  a  man  of  ordi- 
nary humility  might  have  mentioned  it  under 
the  notion  that  thereby  his  usefulness  would 
be  extended.  Jude  avows  himself  a  servant 
of  the  Lord;  that  he  was  a  brother  is  not  so 
much  as  hinted.  To  them,  etc. — more  cor- 
rectly, to  the  called  who  are  beloved  in  Ood  the 
Father,  and  kept  for  Jesus  Christ.  'Called.' 
See  2  Peter  1 :  3.  Sanctified  (properly,  be- 
loved) by  God.  Even  if  the  Greek  for  sancti- 
fied were  the  true  reading,  the  English  should 
be  sanctified  in,  which  expresses  a  richer 
thought  than  sanctified  by.  Not  instrumen- 
tality', but  close  connection  with  the  life  of 
God  by  communion  with  God  himself  is  the 
thought  expressed.  If  the  true  Greek  isbeloved 
(pjvarrijfieVois),  which  is  probable,  it  is  beloved 
in  God.  Some  would  supply  thus:  beloved 
in  God  by  us,  but  no  supply  is  necessary'. 
The  Father.  God  is  the  Father  of  the  re- 
generated, but  here  the  relation  existing 
between  God  and  Christ  seems  to  be  meant, 
as  in  Gal.  1:1;  Phil.  2:11;  Eph.  6 ;  23 ;  1 
Peter  1 :  2.  Preserved — kept,  which  is  sim- 
pler, and  is  the  word  generally  used.  To  (for) 
Jesus  Christ.  The  'called'  are  Christ's. 
Those  who  are  Christ's  are  God's,  and  those 
who  are  God's  are  Christ's.  (johniTMO.)  See 
especially  the  petition  in  the  Lord's  high- 
priestly  prayer  :  "Holy  Father,  keep  through 
thine  own  name  those  whom  thou  hast  given 
me."     (John  17:11.)    See  also  John  17  :  15.    The 


'called'  are  kept  for  Christ.  No  richer 
thought  can  be  found  even  in  the  longest  of 
Paul's  epistles;  a  great  pearl  in  a  small 
casket.  Thus  of  the  'called'  two  things  are 
affirmed:  1.  Beloved  in  God,  tlie  Father  of 
Christ ;  2.  Kept  for  Christ.  God  is  the  keeper, 
and  the  keeping  is  for  Christ.  Having  been 
kept  till  the  present,  it  may  be  believed  that 
they  will  be  kept  forever.  Kept  by  God  for 
Christ /ro?n  evil.  Tiie  prisoner  was  kept  by  a 
chain  binding  him  to  the  keeper;  the  called 
are  kept  by  love  binding  tliem  to  the  Infinite 
Love. 

Remark. — Concerning  different  readings 
of  Greek  manuscripts,  such  as  are  found  even 
in  this  first  verse  of  our  Epistle,  see  "Re- 
marks'' in  the  comments  on  1  Peter  1 :  8. 

2.  In  ten  of  Paul's  epistles,  the  invocation 
is  an  invocation  of  grace  and  peace ;  in  three, 
of  grace,  mercy,  and  joeace;  in  Hebrews,  of 
grace,  but  standing  at  the  end  instead  of  the 
beginning.  In  all  these  but  Hebrews,  here 
assumed  to  be  written  by  Paul,  the  source  of 
the  blessing  invoked  is  given  :  from  Ood  the 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  very 
slight  variation  in  form.  In  James,  greeting 
is  used.  In  both  of  Peter's  epistles  it  is  grace 
and  peace,  with  the  addition,  be  multiplied; 
in  the  Epistle  before  us,  mercy,  and  peace, 
and  love,  with  the  same  addition.  John,  in 
his  First  Epistle,  uses  no  invocation  whatever; 
in  the  second,  grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  with 
the  remarkable  addition,  frotn  Ood  the  Father, 
and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
Father;  in  the  third,  peace  at  the  close. 
Jude's  invocation,  then,  is  unlike  not  onlj-  Pe- 
ter's in  the  Second  Epistle,  but  all  the  others  in 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  worth  something  as 
showing  his  independence.  "Grace,"  found 
in  almost  all  the  other  epistles,  is  wanting. 
'Mercy,'  found  in  only  three  of  Paul's  epis- 
tles, and  in  Second  John,  is  used,  while  '  love' 
is  used  in  the  invocation  of  no  other  epistle. 

7 


JUDE. 


3  BeloveS,  when  I  gave  all  diligence  to  write  unto 
you  of  the  couimon  salvation,  it  was  newltiil  for  me  to 
write  uuto  you,  and  exhort  you  that  ye  should  earnestly 
contend  for  the  faith  which  was  once  delivered  unto 
the  saints. 


3  Beloved,  while  I  was  giving  all  diligence  to  write 
uuto  you  of  our  coujuiou  salvation,!  was  constrained 
to  write  unto  you  exhorting  you  to  contend  earnestly 
for  the  faith  which  was  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the 

4  saints.     For  there  are  certain  men  crept  in  privily, 


'Mercy'  is  the  unmerited  source,  'peace'  and 
'love'  are  the  blissful  results,  whether  by 
'  love '  is  meant  the  mutual  love  of  the  readers, 
or  their  love  to  God,  or  God's  love  to  them, 
or  all  three.     See  on  1  Peter  1 :  2. 

3,4.  The  Necessity  FOR  Writing.  Com- 
pare 1  Peter  1:  12,  13;  3:  1. 

3.  Beloved — a  form  of  address  seldom  used. 

(3  John  2,  5,  11 ;  1  Peter  2  :  11  ;  4  :  12  ;  2  I  eter  3:1,8,  14,  17.)      It 

reflects  light  upon  the  writer's  character. 
Without  this  tender  word  Jude  might  have 
been  deemed  constitutionally  severe.  Men 
■who  are  naturally  severe  are  sometimes,  how- 
ever, very  tender  in  spirit.  It  is  not  impossi- 
ble, therefore,  that  if  we  knew  more  of  Jude's 
nature,  we  should  be  under  the  necessity  of 
modifying  a  little  what  has  just  been  said. 
Diligence,  earneistness,  imj)lying  strong  de- 
sire and  purpose.  He  was  desiring  and  intend- 
ing to  write  tliem  of  something,  but  the  desire 
and  purpose  were  arrested  by  a  necessitj' 
which  impelled  him  to  do  something  else. 
The  common  salvation.  Valuable  manu- 
scripts have  (liMW")  "our."  This  is  adopted 
by  Westcott  and  Hort  and  the  Kevised  Ver- 
sion: our  common  salvation.  This  was  the 
subject  on  which  he  earnestly  desired  to  write 
them.  '  Common  ' — not  to  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
but  shared  by  all  believers.  See  Titus  1 :  4 
("common  faith");  2  Peter  1:  1  ("like 
precious  faith").  See  on  the  latter.  'Sal- 
vation'— effected  for  believers  through  the 
redeeming  death  of  Christ,  thus  their  actual 
salvation,  not  a  system  of  doctrine.  'The 
common  salvation  ' — the  same  for  the  learned 
and  the  igjiorant.  From  the  fact  of  a  com- 
mon salvation  is  easily  deduced  the  duty  of 
common  Christian  love.  May  the  time 
come  when  the  duty  shall  be  as  heartily  felt 
as  the  fact  is  strongly  believed !  Needful — 
literally,  /  had  necessity — that  is,  I  felt  im- 
pelled. He  was  impelled  by  what  he  knew 
of  the  influence  of  bad  men  who  professed  to 
be  good  men.  To  write — in  a  strain  differ- 
ent from  what  he  intended.  A  letter  of 
exhortation  was  necessary.  The  inspired 
writers  are  remarkable  for  versatility  in 
handling  religious  truth  ;  sometimes  reason- 
ing, sometimes  exhorting,  sometimes  doing 


both.  The  exigency  required  Jude  to  exhort. 
AVe  should  have  been  well  instructed,  doubt- 
less, had  he  written  as  he  first  intended  to 
write — on  the  common  salvation.  It  is  useless 
to  regret  that  he  changed  his  mind,  and 
decided  to  rouse  saints  by  rasping  sinners. 
Earnestly  contend  for — one  word  in  the 
Greek,  a  verb  compounded  with  a  preposition. 
The  verb  without  the  preposition  is  used  in 
Luke  13:  24  ("5'^7'it;e  to  enter  in").  Agonize  \?, 
the  original  word  in  English  dress.  It  was  used 
with  reference  to  the  striving  of  men  in  the 
Greek  games  to  win  the  prize.  As  applied  to 
that,  it  signifies  the  utmost  possible  effort  of  the 
will,  through  nerve  and  muscle,  to  overcome 
all  competitors.  The  compound  word  is,  "to 
fight  standing  upon  a  thing  which  is  assaulted, 
and  which  the  adversary  desires  to  take 
away"  (Dr.  Jlombert  in  Fronmiiller).  The 
faith — not  a  formula  of  words,  but  the  entire 
scheme  of  Christianitj',  here  distinguislied  by 
its  leading  characteristic.  Once  (once  for 
nil)  delivered.  The  faith  is  a  finality.  It 
admits  no  addition  and  no  subtraction.  (Rev. 
22:18,19.)  But  according  to  Romanism  it  is 
otherwise.  The  more  Christianitj'  is  studied 
the  more  of  itself  it  will  reveal,  but  the  book 
which  contains  it  is  complete.  The  saints — 
"those  consecrated  to  him  (the  Lord),  and  so 
his.  This  term,  as  applied  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, refers  to  the  normal  or  prescribed 
standard  of  Christian  character,  rather  than 
the  actual  one.  See  1  Cor.  1  :  2,  as  compared 
with  1  Cor.  3:  2;  11:  21,  etc.  It  belongs  to 
all  who  profess  to  be  disciples,  and  does  not 
distinguish  one  class  of  them  as  superior  to 
others  in  point  of  excellence."  (Hackett's 
"Com.  on  the  Acts,"  9:  13).  Yet  see  1  Peter 
2:  9,  and  comments.  Indifference  to  assaults 
upon  Chri-stianity  or  any  piirt  of  it,  or  to  the 
gradual  rise  of  error,  however  slight,  is  un- 
worthj'  the  Christian  name.  Vigorous  defense 
of  truth  and  positive  attack  of  error  is  the 
duty  of  every  Christian.  Indifference  to 
error  is  a  sign  of  false  liberalism  and  humili- 
ating weakness.  It  finds  no  countenance  in 
the  example  of  the  apostles,     (i  Tim.  6 :  s,  4 ;  2  Tim. 

1:13;  2:16-18:4:2-4;  Titns  1 :  9-13.)      And  OUr  Epistlc  is 

itself  proof  of  the  intensity  of  Jude's  opposi- 


JUDE. 


4  For  there  are  certain  men  crept  in  unawares,  who 
■were  before  of  old  ordained  to  tliis  condeninaiion,  un- 
godly men,  turning  Iho  grace  of  our  God  into  lascivi- 
ousness,  and  denying  the  only  Lord  God,  and  our  Lord 
Jesuii  Christ. 


even  they  who  were  of  old,  i  written  of  beforehand 
unto  this  condeninaiion,  ungodly  men,  turning  tlie 
grace  of  our  dud  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying 
-our  only  Master  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ. 


1  Or,  tet  forth  2  Or,  the  only  Master,  and  our  hori  Jetue  CHrUt, 


tion  to  all  departures  from  Christian  truth. 
A  single  illustration  may  be  in  point.  Should 
one  teach  that  the  rite  of  baptism  as  enjoined 
by  Christ  and  the  apostles  had  the  form  of 
immersion  and  no  other  form,  hut  that  in 
some  later  age  was  changed  by  men  ("a 
human  invention")  into  a  rite  very  unlike  it, 
sprinkling  for  example,  and  should  defend 
the  change  as  rightly  made,  tliougli  admitting 
it  to  have  been  made  with  no  divine  authority 
whatever,  it  is  clear  that  the  way  would  have 
been  prepared  for  changing  the  Lord's  Supper 
also.  It  is  clear,  indeed,  that  no  limit  could 
be  placed  to  the  changes  which  men  might 
make  in  the  Christian  s^^stem.  But  the  in- 
spired word,  '"contend  earnestly  for  the 
faith,"  positively  forbids  the  first  change,  not 
less  than  the  second,  i 

4.  For  introduces  the  reason  for  being 
under  the  necessity  of  writing  this  kind  of  a 
letter.  Certain  men-indefinite,  but  they  must 
have  been  known  to  the  readers.  To  affirm 
that  by  '  men '  Jude  intended  to  express  the 
unrenewed  nature  of  the  false  teachers,  shows 
to  what  a  strain  it  is  possible  to  put  words. 
There  are  .  .  .  crept  in.  The  Eevised  Ver- 
sion renders  in  the  same  way.  Better,  it  is 
thought,  certain,  men  crept  in.  It  refers  to 
some  past  point  of  time,  yet  includes  the  idea 
that  tiie  men  are  still  living,  and  living  as 
members  of  churches.  That  such  men  were, 
during  a  greater  of  less  period,  members  of 
churches  is  clear  from  Acts  20:  29,  30;  1  John 
2:  19.  These  men  came  in  utenlthily.,  privily — 
that  is,  though  openly  received  as  members, 
they  kept  their  false  views  to  themselves,  and 
managed  to  conceal  awhile  their  impurity  of 
life.  They  were  hypocrites  at  the  outset. 
Their  errors  and  impurities  may  at  first  have 
existed  only  in  germ,  but  they  must  have 
been  rapidly  developed.  Whether  more  or 
less,  their  immoralities  and  errors  were  kept 
awhile  so  concealed  that  they  themselves 
can  be  said  to  have  crept  into  the  church 
privily.  Before  (of  old)  ordained— not 
primarilj',    predetermined    by    the     purpose 


of  God,  but  written  before;  not  written 
in  Paul's  epistles,  or  in  Peters,  for  'of 
old'  takes  us  back  to  an  earlier  period. 
They  had  long  ago  been  described.  Accord- 
ing to  the  methods  of  interpreting  the  OM 
Testament  in  apostolic  times,  tiny  passage 
of  the  Old  Testament  wiiich  foretells  tiie 
coming  of  bad  men  could  be  applied  to  the 
men  in  question.  A  more  definite  referencu 
is  unnecessary.  Pre-ordina.ion  of  these  men 
Jo  punishment,  however,  is  as  true  as  pre- 
ordination of  any  other  sinners  to  punish- 
ment. All  incorrigible  sinners  are  ordained 
to  punishment  in  the  sense  that  unforsaken 
sin  will  draw  upon  itself  the  punishment 
which  it  is  God's  holy  and  eternal  will  to 
inflict.  Tlii.s  condemnation — the  punish- 
ment, not  yet  named,  but  even  now  in  his 
thoughts.  Ungodly  men — irreverent  toward 
God,  and  therefore  godless.  God  around 
them,  over  them,  within  them,  yet  are  they 
godless.  Turning  the  grace— the  third  spe- 
cial affirmation  relative  to  certain  men.  The 
indefinite  is  becoming  definite.  'The  grace' 
— not  grace  given  in  regeneration,  for  the 
men  give  no  evidence  of  renewal,  but  the 
grace  oflTered  to  men  in  Christianity.  Our 
God.  'Our'  marks  very  beautifully  the 
appropriation  of  the  Divine  Being  as  em- 
phatically theirs,  in  distinction  from  the 
rejection  of  him  by  these  godless  men.  'God,' 
with  no  appropriating  word,  is  a  sign  of  weak- 
ness of  faith;  it  may  be  proof  of  positive 
unbelief.  Into  lasciviousness.  The  word 
isusedinlPeter4:3;  2  Peter  2:  7  (''filthy"); 
2:  18  ("wantonness").  Turning  the  grace. 
How?  The  grace  of  God,  undeserved  favor 
manifested  in  forgiving  sin  for  the  sake  of 
Christ,  brings  men  into  liberty  (iPeter2:i6;  oai. 
3:13;  5:1, 13) — that  IS,  into  freedom  from  the 
law  viewed  as  something  to  be  obe^-ed  in 
order  to  be  justified  from  the  condemning 
power  of  conscience,  and  from  the  tj'ranny  of 
passion.  If  one  who  professes  to  have  come 
into  such  freedom  has  come  into  it,  not  in 
fact,  but  only  in  pretence,  he  will  be  in  dan- 


1  See  the  Dean  of  Westminister  on  baptism. 


10 


JUDE. 


5  I  will  therefore  put  you  in  remembrance,  though 
ye  once  knew  this,  how  thai  the  Lord,  having  saved  the 
people  out  of  the  land  of  Kgypt,  afterward  destroyed 
theiu  that  believed  not. 


5  Now  I  desire  to  put  you  in  remembrance,  though 
ye  know  all  things  once  for  all,  how  that  ithe  Lord, 
having  saved  a  people  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 


1  Many  very  ancient  Butborliies  read  Jeius. 


ger  of  surrendering  himself  all  the  more 
freely  to  the  doniinion  of  lust.  This  will  be 
'turning  the  grace  of  God  into  lascivious- 
ness.'  Denying,  etc.  In  several  manu- 
scripts God  {dtov)  is  wanting.  It  is  rejected 
by  Lachmann,  Tischendorf,  Tregelles,  and 
"Wescott  and  Hort.  The  Greek  for  'Lord 
(5eon-on7i/)  is  not  the  word  which  is  commonly 
used  where  the  English  has  '  Lord.'  Its  origi- 
nal meaning  is  Master,  and  despot.  Widely 
different  in  meaning  from  the  Greek  is  this 
Greek  word  in  English  letters.  Jesus  Christ 
is  a  loving  Master,  not  a  despot.  But  is  Lord 
(that  is,  Master)  here  applied  to  God  the 
Father?  or  is  it  applied  to  Christ?  In  the 
New  Testament  it  is  in  most  cases  used  re- 
specting   the    former.        (Luke  2:  29;  Acts  4;  24;  Rev. 

6:  10.)  In  2  Peter  2:  1  it  is  applied  to  Christ. 
As  Jude  is  here  so  much  like  Peter,  it  would 
seem  that  he,  as  well  as  Peter,  must  refer  to 
Christ;  but  variations  from  Peter,  as  the  use 
of  only  and  the  omission  of  that  brought  them, 
awaken  uncertainty.  If  we  translate  the  only 
Master,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which 
may  be  the  correct  rendering.  Master  would 
manifestly  refer  to  God  the  Father.  If  we 
translate,  wh4ch  is  allowable,  our  only  Master 
and  I/ord,  Jesus  Christ,  then  Master,  as  well 
as  Lord  (/ciipiov)  refers  to  Christ.  'Denying,' 
etc.  See  1  John  2:  22.  They  denied  Jesus 
Christ  by  a  life  of  excess.  Such  a  life  was 
denial  of  Christ,  since  Christ  himself  was  so 
pure.  In  words  they  maj'  have  professed  to 
receive  him,  but  probably  their  sentiments 
concerning  Christ  were  as  bad  as  their  life. 
One  may  deny  Christ  by  adding  to  him  some- 
thing which  he  is  not,  or  by  subtracting  from 
him  something  which  he  is.  Like  his  broth- 
ers, Jude  lived  some  time  without  seeing  and 
publicly  acknowledging  the  Messianic  claims 
of  Jesus;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that,  like 
these  men,  he  denied  the  Lord,  turning  the 
grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness. 

5-7.  Examples  OF  God's  Pxtnitite  Jus- 
tice. 

5.  First  Example.  Therefore  is  an  error 
of  translation.  It  should  be  hut,  and  will 
should  be  desire,  thus:    But  I  desire  to  put 


you,  etc.  Compare  2 Peter  1;  12.  Though, 
etc— literally,  knotring  this,  as  knowing  this. 
Tiiey  already  know  the  historical  facts  which 
he  is  about  to  give,  and  for  that  very  reason 
he  puts  them  in  remembrance.  Once—once 
for  all.  {ver.  3.)  This.  Manuscripts  favor  the 
reading  which  means  all  things,  and  this  is 
adopted  in  the  Kevised  Version.  They  know, 
once  for  all,  all  things  pertaining  to  God's 
revealed  will,  whether  of  the  Old  Testatnent, 
or  of  the  New.  How  that — more  simply, 
that ;  I  desire  to  remind  j-ou  that,  etc.  The 
Lord— God,  the  Father.  But  Jesus  is  another 
reading.  "Some  primitive  error"  would 
seem  to  have  crept  in.  See  "VVestcott  and 
Hort.  What  is  the  correct  reading  it  may 
never  be  possible  to  decide.  In  1  Cor.  10:  4 
is  a  representation  of  Christ,  with  which,  to 
say  the  least,  the  reading  Jesus  is  in  harmony: 
"And  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual  drink; 
for  thej'  drank  of  a  spiritual  rock  that  fol- 
lowed thern :  and  that  rock  was  Ciirist."  (Rev. 
Ver. )  If  Christ,  in  his  pre-existent,  divine 
nature,  therefore  as  the  Son  of  God,  as  the 
Word,  wlio  afterward  appeared  as  man, 
accompanied  the  Israelitesduringtheir  march 
through  the  wilderness,  protecting  and  help- 
ing them  (Meyer  on  1  Cor.  10:  4),  why  may 
it  not  also  be  true  that  the  deliverance  of  the 
people  from  Egypt,  and  the  subsequent  de- 
struction of  those  that  believed  not,  were 
effected  by  God  through  the  medium  of  the 
same  pre-existing  Son  ?  But  the  student  will 
notice  that,  according  to  the  suggested  read- 
ing, Jude  uses  the  name  (Jesus)  by  means  of 
wliich,  as  Huther  says,  is  denoted  the  earthly, 
human  personality  of  Christ.  It  maj-,  indeed, 
be  deetned  contrary  to  all  analogj'  of  Scrip- 
ture to  ascribe  to  Jesus,  rather  than  to  Christ, 
or  the  Eternal  Son,  the  deliverance  of  the 
Israelites  from  Egypt,  etc.  ;  yet,  as  Huther 
himself  sa5'S,  Jude  could  have  done  this  from 
the  consciousness  of  identity  of  the  Eternal  Son 
and  the  Son  of  Marj'.  If  the  commonly- 
received  reading  is  correct,  Lo7-d  must  proba- 
bly be  understood  as  referring  to  God  the 
Father.  The  people  —  a  people.  There  is 
no  article  in  the  Greek.     Unconsciously,  per- 


JUDE. 


11 


6  And  the  angels  which  kept  not  tlieir  first  estate, 
but  Ic'l't  their  own  habitulion,  he  lialh  reserved  in  ever- 
lasting chains  under  darkness  unto  the  judgment  of 
the  great  day. 


6  1  afterward  destroyed  them  that  believed  not.  And 
angels  who  kept  not  their  own  piincij)aliiy,  but  left 
their  projter  haliitation,  he  liath  kept  in  everlasung 
bonds   under  darkness  unto   the  judguieul  of  the 

7  great  day.     Even  aa  tjodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the 


1  Gr.  the  eecond  time. 


haps,  the  writer  strikes  a  minor  key  by  the 
omission  of  Ats.  Compare  Matt.  1 :  21;  Luke 
1:  68;  Kom.  11:  1  (his  people).  Afterward 
— the  second  time.  Tiie  idea  is  this  :  That  the 
Lord,  having  delivered  the  people  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  the  second  time  did  not  de- 
liver, hut  destroyed  them  that  believed  not. 
The  history  shows  that  all  but  the  young,  and 
Joshua  and  Caleb,  perished  in  the  wilderness. 
Fronmiiller  interprets  :  "  He  destroj'ed  them 
the  second  time,  and  should  be  referred  to 
two  judgments  of  destruction  ;  once  when  the 
'people,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  perished 
in  the  wilderness,  and  again  to  the  Babylonish 
captivity,"'  which  seems  to  be  more  "forced" 
and  "unnatural"  than  the  explanation  which 
he  rejects.  Notice  here  Jude's  independence 
of  Peter.  He  takes  a  new  example.  In  the 
corresponding  part  of  his  Second  Epistle, 
chapter  2,  Peter  sa^'s  nothing  of  the  kind,  but 
takes  an  example  from  the  history  of  the 
flood.  Believed  not— trusted  not  in  their 
Divine  Deliverer  from  Egypt,  but  murmured 
and  fell  into  immorality.  On  the  nature  of 
faith,  see  on  1  Peter  1  :  5,  and  respecting  the 
word  '  believe,'  see  on  1  Peter  1 :  8.  See  also 
Heb.  3  :  18,19.  This  example  of  punishment 
is  intended  partly  (ver.  20, 21),  not  wholly,  as  a 
warning  to  Christians.  It  is  also  intended  to 
assure  Christians  that  the  immoral  heretics 
will  be  punished.  Thus  it  serves  as  an  en- 
couragement as  well  as  a  warning. 

6.  Second  cvample,  having  the  same  object 
as  the  first.  Angels — not  the  angels,  a  con- 
trast with  men,  referred  to  in  ver.  5 ;  yet  not 
all  angels,  for  a  limitation  is  made  by  the 
clause  which  follows.  First  estate — cor- 
rectly, as  in  the  Revised  Version,  their  own 
princijyality.  In  the  Greek  there  is  but  one 
word  {or  first  estate,  and  that  meaning,  liter- 
ally, what  is  first,  whether  in  time  or  place. 
Here  it  refers  either  to  their  original  state,  or 
their  original  position  :  if  the  former,  it  must 
mean  their  sinlessness  and  bliss  ;  if  the  latter, 
their  honor  or  dominion.  Both  may  be  in- 
cluded. Inquisitiveness  would  desire  a  more 
definite  statement.  Some  poets,  as  Milton, 
Dante,  Mrs.  Browning,  and  others  sing  as  if 


knowing  much  concerning  such  high  things, 
but  inspired  men  must  be  silent  where  it  is 
permitted  poets  to  strike  the  harp  with  a  bold 
hand.  Some  who  are  not  poets  presume  t6 
know  too  much  to  believe  that  there  are  any 
angels  whatever.  Kept  not.  They  could 
have  kept;  there  was  no  compulsion.  But 
left.  They  could  have  remained.  'But' 
left — not  and  left;  and  therefore  this  clause 
does  not  express  another  distinct  act,  but  it 
defines  the  act  expressed  in  the  first  clause. 
Yet  it  adds  something  to  the  thought,  for  the 
first  is  negative,  while  this  is  positive.  Their 
own  habitation — their  proper  habitation. 
The  Greek  for  their  own  {iavriov),  before  first 
estate,  is  not  the  same  as  here  (iStoi'),  and  it 
is  desirable  to  indicate  it  by  the  use  of  a  dif- 
ferent word,  as  proper,  though  this  term  is  a 
little  ambiguous.  By  '  habitation,'  heaven 
may  be  meant,  perhaps  the  dwelling  place 
especially  theirs  in  heaven.  If  the  latter  is 
the  meaning,  the  nature  of  the  wrong  here 
also  is  not  described.  Compare  the  corre- 
sponding 2  Peter  2:  4,  where  angels  are  said 
to  have  sinned.  Though  in  Peter  the  repre- 
sentation is  more  general,  it  is  more  easily 
understood.  Jude  gives  particulars,  and  for 
that  very  reason  his  meaning  is  less  obvious. 
Hath  reserved — hath  kept,  which  brings  out 
the  contrast  more  clearlj^:  they  kept  not; 
God  has  kept  them.  The  perfect  tense  takes 
the  readers  back  to  the  time  of  the  wrong 
doing,  and  brings  them  forward  to  the  wri- 
ter's day.  They  have  been  kept  through  the 
entire  period.  In  everlasting  chains  n-nder 
darkness.  Veter:  chains  of  darkness.  Jude 
adds  the  idea  expressed  in  everlasting.  Par- 
rar,  in  harmony  with  his  erroneous  interpre- 
tation of  1  Peter  3:  19,  20,  "preached  unto 
the  spirits  in  prison,"  makes  'everlasting' 
(oiSiois)  express  a  limited  period,  though 
aflirming,  at  the  satne  time,  that  it  is  stronger 
than  eternal  or  everlasting  (aiuwos)  .  The  lat- 
ter word  occurs  in  the  very  important  passage, 
Matt.  25:  46.  The  'chains'  (bonds)  can  never 
be  broken;  no  restoration,  therefore.  'Dark- 
ness,' of  hell.  (Matt.  25 :  30, 41.)  The  great  day 
— the  day  of  general  judgment,    when   the 


12 


JUDE. 


7  Even  as  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  cities  about 
them  in  like  manner,  giviug  themselves  over  to  forni- 
cation, and  goiug  after  strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  for 
an  example,  suifering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire. 


cities  about  them,  having  in  like  manner  with  these 

giveu  themselves  over  to  toriiieation,  and  gone  after 

strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  ^as  an  example,  sufter- 

8  ing   tte   punishment  of  eternal   fire.     Yet  in  like 


1  Or,  at  an  example  of  eternal  fire,  etiffering  puniilunent. 


fallen  angels  will  be  publicly  judged.  See 
"that  great  and  notable  day"  (aci3  2:2o); 
"the  great  day  of  his  wrath"  (Rev.6:i7); 
"that  great  day  of  God  Almighty."  (Rev.ie-.  u.) 
A  great  number  will  be  gathered  together,  a 
division  will  be  made,  and  from  that  division 
great  results  will  follow.  (Matt.  25: 32, 33, 34, 41.) 
See  on  the  entire  corresponding  2  Peter  2:  4. 

7.  Third  example,  with  the  same  object  as 
that  of  the  two  previous  ones.  As  is  related 
to  iikeivise  in  the  next  verse.  The  two  words 
express  comparison  between  the  inhabitants 
of  the  cities  and  "these  filthy  dreamers." 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah — situated,  as  the  evi- 
dence thus  far  obtained  serves  to  show,  in  a 
district  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
not,  as  a  recent  writer  has  attempted  to  prove, 
at  the  northern  end.  The  cities  about 
{around)  them — Admah,  Zeboiim,  and  Bela. 
(Gen.  14:2;  Deut.  29: 23.)  A  conima  should  Stand 
after  them,  but  none  after  manner,  which 
should  be  closely  connected  with  the  follow- 
ing clause.  As  in  the  Revised  Version,  with 
these  should  have  appeared  in  the  Common 
Version  (the  proper  rendering  of  the  Greek 
word  TouTots  in  the  text).  In  like  manner  with 
these — that  is,  the  inhabitants  of  Gomorrah, 
etc.,  gave  themselves  over  to  fornication  in  the 
manner  like  that  which  characterized  these. 
But  who  are  meant  by  these  is  uncertain. 
Some  say  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  but  these 
are  included  with  the  other  cities  in  the  sin. 
Others,  as  Farrar,  refer  it  to  the  angels  (ver.  e), 
but  that  rests  on  a  false  interpretation  of  Gen.  6: 
1,  2 — that  the  sons  of  God  who  took  daughters 
of  men  for  wives  were  angels.  But,  accord- 
ing to  Farrar,  Jude  himself,  "like  the  Jews 
of  his  day,  attributed  the  fall  of  the  angels  to 
sensuality."  Others  refer  it  to  the  false 
teachers  (ver.  4)  mentioned  also  in  ver.  8  as 
"these  filthy  dreamers."  If  the  latter  is  the 
true  reference,  Jude  anticipates  what  he  is 
about  to  say,  which  is  deemed  by  some  as 
inadmissible.  It  is  a  question  not  easily  de- 
cided, but  the  latter  reference  seems  to  be 
preferable.  Giving  themselves  over — one 
word  in  the  Greek,  but  a  word  of  such  strength 
that  more  than  one  word  in  the  English  is 


necessary  to  express  the  idea.  It  implies  a 
thorough  and  continued  abandonment  to  lust. 
And  (yet  more)  going  {away)  after.  They 
went  fearfully'  out  of  the  right  way.  Strange. 
"The  Greek,"  says  Dr.  Lillie,  "occurs 
ninety-eight  times,  but  it  is  nowhere  else 
translated  'strange.'  "  They  went  after  other 
flesh.  The  disgusting  forms  of  licentiousness 
here  referred  to  are  mentioned  in  Gen.  19:  4 
6;  Lev.  18:  22,  23;  Eom.  1:  24,  26,  27;  and 
no  facts  of  history  are  more  strongly  attested 
than  that  they  greatly  prevailed  in  Rome  and 
Greece.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  al- 
most the  entire  heathen  world  were  sunk  in 
similar  pollution  at  the  time  of  Christ's  birth. 
Would  that  such  painful  proofs  of  the  fall  of 
man  could  not  be  gathered  from  Christian 
countries!  Are  set  forth.  The  original  is 
striking:  lie  before — that  is,  lie  before  our 
eyes.  Compare  with  2  Peter  2:  6  ("making 
them  an  ensample").  To  lie  before  is  ex- 
plained by  Fronmuller  thus:  "The  Dead  Sea 
is  to  this  day  a  testimony  of  that  catastrophe; 
ruins  of  the  sunken  cities  were  perhaps  still 
visible  in  the  days  of  Jude."  [ !  ]  But  Ben- 
gel  says:  "The  cities,  therefore,  were  situ- 
ated, not  in  the  Dead  Sea,  but  upon  the 
shore."  Even  Huther  speaks  of  the  Dead 
Sea  as  "ccmtinually  testifying  to  the  punish- 
ment inflicted."  De  Wette,  in  Fronmiiller, 
says  that  "subterranous  fire  is  presumed  [!] 
to  be  beneath  the  sea  that  covers  the  cities." 
To  the  notion,  so  common,  that  the  cities 
stood  where  the  Dead  Sea  is,  the  Scriptures 
give  no  support,  and  geological  considerations 
lead  to  the  belief  that  the  Dead  Sea  must  have 
had  existence  long  before  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham. In  the  destruction  of  the  cities  the 
Scriptures  assign  no  agency  to  water,  but  at- 
tribute their  overthrow  to  fire;  and  unless 
scientific  investigation  shall  show  it  to  be 
otherwise,  the  view  must  continue  to  be  held 
that  the  district  oii  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea 
bears  marks  which  corroborate  the  theory 
that  that  is  the  spot  where  the  cities  stood. 
The  cities  lie  before  us  in  history.  For  an 
example.  Some  connect  with  eternal  fire 
{as  an  example  of  eternal  fire).     So  the  mar- 


JUDE. 


13 


8  Likewise  also  these  filthy  dreamers  defile  the  flesh, 
despise  dominion,  and  speak  evil  ol'  dignities. 

9  Yet  Micliael  the  archangel,  when  contending  witli 
the  devil  he  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses,  durst 


manner  these  also  in  their  dreamings  defile  the 

Mesli,  and    set    at    nought    douiiniou,   and   rail   at 

9  1  dignities,     liut  Michael  the  archangel,  when  con- 

teuUing  with  the  devil  he  disputed  about  the  body  of 


1  Or.  gloria. 


giiial  reading  of  the  Revised  Version.  It  is 
better  to  connect  with  'set  forth.'  The  next 
clause  expresses  what  the  men  who  inhabited 
the  cities  are  suffering  in  the  other  world. 
The  vengeance  {or  punishment)  of  eternal 
lire— the  fire  of  hell,  and  this  they  have  been 
suffering  from  the  time  of  the  first  visitation 
of  divine  wrath.  See  on  2  Peter  2:  6. 
8-16.  The  False  Teachers  Described. 

8.  Likewise, connecting  with  "as"  in  ver. 
7,  introduces  comparison  of  the  dreamers  of 
this  verse  with  the  sinners  of  that  verse.  But 
again  our  translators  fail  to  translate.  In  the 
Greek  is  a  word  meaning  nevertheless,  and 
this  indicates  the  failure  of  the  false  teachers 
to  profit  by  the  example  lying  before  them  in 
the  destruction  of  the  cities.  Vet  (in  like 
manner)  do  also  these,  etc.  Filthy — unneces- 
sarily supplied,  in  italics.  Dreamers — liter- 
ally, dremning.  The  word  stands  in  close 
relation  to  both  the  clauses  that  follow,  but 
they  are  not  represented  as  doing  three  dis- 
tinct and  co-ordinate  things:     1.  Dreaming; 

2.  Defiling  the  flesh  and  despising  dominion  ; 

3.  Speaking  evil  of  dignities.  They  are  in  a 
state  which  is  represented  as  dreaming,  and 
while  in  that  state  or  being  in  that  state,  they 
do  the  things  specified.  Of  these  men  as 
dreaming  different  views  have  been  taken. 
All  explanations  which  assume  that  dream- 
ing in  sleep  is  intended  are  to  be  rejected.  It 
must  be  taken  as  a  figurative  word  intended 
to  express  baseless,  incoherent  imaginings 
with  respect  to  religious  things,  and  which 
are  unworthy  the  name  of  principles.  Defile 
the  flesh — of  others  and  of  themselves.  It 
has  its  explanation  in  the  fearful  description 
of  the  cities,  (ver.  7.)  See  a  similar  descrip- 
tion in  Isa.  56  ;  10,  11.  Despise  dominion — 
the  same  thought  as  Peter  expresses  in  2  Peter 
2:  10,  but  the  verbs  are  not  the  same,  Jude's 
being  the  stronger.  Speak  evil  of  dignities 
— the  same  in  Peter.  See  on  the  entire  par- 
allel verse.  This  verse  might  be  deemed  a 
remarkably  cori^ct  description  of  Mormon- 
ism. 

9.  Yet  (6?<f)  introduces  the  great  contrast  in 
respect  to  one  point,  between  the  false  teachers 


and  Michael  the  archangel.  That  one  point 
is  the  spirit  shown  by  the  former  relative  to 
earthly  rulers,  and  by  the  latter  to  the  devil. 
The  particulars  here  given  are  not  even 
hinted  at  by  any  other  inspired  v/riter ;  and 
it  is  said  by  those  who  have  examined  it,  that 
they  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  book  of  Henoch. 
(Ver.  14.)  To  suppose  that  the  facts  were  un- 
known to  all  others,  and  were  given  to  Jude 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  through  direct  revelation, 
is  inadmissible.  It  is  clear  that  they  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Jews  generally.  Paul  (2  Tim.  3 :  s) 
makes  use  of  a  fact  relative  to  Jannes  and 
Jambres,  and  it  is  specially  to  be  noticed  that 
it  pertains  to  Moses  before  death,  as  the  case 
before  us  pertains  to  Moses  (to  his  body)  after 
death,  but  of  which  fact  also  the  other  Scrip- 
tures take  no  notice.  It  has  been  shown  from 
an  examination  of  some  Egyptian  names  as 
quite  probable,  that  what  Paul  saj's  of  Jannea 
and  Jambres  was  an  actual  fact,  and  in  the 
absence  of  proof  to  the  contrary  it  must  bo 
held  that  Jude  also  gives  us  actual  facts, 
though  we  have  not  the  means  of  verifying 
them.  But  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
all  the  inspired  writers  were  kept  by  inspira- 
tion as  well  from  errors  of  fact  as  from  errors 
of  doctrine.  31ichael.  To  only  two  of  the 
angels  do  the  Scriptures  give  names.  Michael 
and  Gabriel.  Michael  is  mentioned  in  Dan. 
10:  13,  21;  12:  1;  Rev.  12:  7.  It  was  a  Jew- 
ish name  (1  Chron.  5:  13,  and  many  other 
places),  and  means,  who  is  like  God.  The 
division  of  angels  into  classes,  as  angels  and 
archangels,  is  not  recognized  in  the  earlier 
hi.«tory  of  the  Jews.  We  read  first  in  Daniel 
of  "one  of  the  chief  princes"  (Michael).  In 
Rev.  12 :  7,  he  is  the  leader  of  other  angels 
("Michael  and  his  angels").  Jude  calls  him 
'archangel,'  and  Paul  speaks  of  an  arch- 
angel. (1  Thess.  4 :  16.)  An  archangel  is  a  chief, 
or  prince,  angel.  Contending— in  words. 
With  the  devil— a  loyal  angel  in  contest  with 
a  rebel  angel,  a  prince  angel  in  contest  with 
the  prince  demon,  the  subject  of  the  dispute 
being  the  body  of  Moses.  The  detail  of  the 
dispute  is  wisely  hidden  from  us.  Study  the 
revealed,  instead  of  prying  into    the  unre- 


14 


JUDE. 


not  bring  against  bim  a  railing  accusation,  but  said, 
Tlie  Lord  rebuke  thee. 

10  But  these  speak  evil  of  those  things  which  they 
know  not:  but  what  they  know  naturally,  as  brute 
beasts,  in  those  things  they  corrupt  themselves. 

11  Woe  unto  them  !  for  ihey  have  gone  in  the  way  of 
Cain,  and  ran  greedily  after  the  error  of  Balaam  for 
reward,  and  perished  in  the  gainsaying  of  Core. 


Moses,  durst  not  bring  against  him  a  railing  judg- 

10  ment,  but  said.  The  Lord  rebuke  thee.  But  these 
rail  at  whatsoever  things  they  know  not:  aud  what 
they  understand  naturally,  like  the  creatures  with-, 
out  reason,   in   these  things   are   they  'destroyed. 

11  Woe  unto  them!  for  they  went  in  the  way  of  Cain, 
and  2 ran  riotously  iu  the  error  of  Balaam  for  hire, 


1  Or,  corrupted 2  Or,  east  themaelvce  awajf  through. 


vealed.  "  Origeii  says  that  the  allusion  is 
taken  from  an  apocryphal  book  called  '  The 
Ascension  of  Moses.'  "  (Farrar,  "Early  Days 
of  Christianity.")  It  must  be  admitted  that 
Jude  may  here  be  using  a  Jewish  legend. 
As  an  illustration  he  might  have  used  it  with 
as  much  propriety  as  Paul  used,  for  illustra- 
tion, quotations  from  heathen  writers.  It  is  a 
matter  concerning  which  one  need  not  be  very 
confident.  Durst  not — not  through  want  of 
courage.  (Rev.  12:  7-9.)  Moral  considerations 
restrained  him.  He  stood  in  holy  awe  of 
God.  "  Why  dared  not?"  asks  Farrar.  "The 
entire  reasoning  shows  that  the  answer  is: 
'Because  of  Satan's  former  greatness.'" 
Railing  accnsation — a  judgment  or  sentence 
of  reviling;  that  is,  a  judgment  containing 
words  of  railing,  and  implying  undue  severity' 
of  spirit  and  assumption  of  power.  Though 
severe,  this  Epistle  of  Jude  is  not  a  railing 
accusation.  Jude  is  not,  then,  to  be  unfavor- 
ably contrasted  with  Michael.  Had  it  been 
the  archangel's  business  to  blow  the  alarm 
against  these  'filthy  dreamers,'  it  would  not 
have  been  like  him  to  use  less  vigor  {fortiter 
in  re,  courageously)  than  Jude.  The  Lord 
rebuke  thee.  (zech.  3 :  1-3.)  Compare  this 
verse  with  2  Peter  2:  11.  The  similarities 
and  the  dissimilarities  are  striking.  Peter  is 
the  more  general ;  Jude  the  more  particular. 
10.  These— the  false  teachers.  But  gives 
additional  contrast  between  them  andMichael. 
while  the  verse  as  a  whole  stands  related  to 
ver.  8.  There  the  errorists  are  said  to  'speak 
evil  of  dignities' ;  here  not  to  know  that  of 
which  they  speak;  there  to  defile  the  flesh; 
here  in  that  lower  knowledge,  which  they 
have  in  common  with  brutes,  to  corrupt  them- 
selves. Those  things — whatsoever  things, 
things  pertaining  to  dignities,  (ver. 8.)  See 
on  the  parallel  phrase  in  2  Peter  2 :  12.  Licen- 
tiousness, since  it  is  itself  lawless,  disquali- 
fies for  attaining  just  knowledge  of  govern- 
ment. This  kind  of  knowledge  requires  a  clear 
head  and  an  honest  heart,  and  these  men  have 


neither.  But,  on  t'le  other  hand,  what  {what- 
soever) they  knoAV  naturally..  There  is  a 
lower  kind  of  knowledge,  connected  with 
indulgence  of  the  appetites,  in  which  they  are 
proficients,  but  it  is  brute  knowledge. 

What  is  a  man, 
If  his  chief  good,  and  market  of  his  time, 
Be  but  to  sleep  and  feed  ?  a  beast,  no  more. 

The  false  teachers  do  worse  than  to  "sleep 
and  feed" — they  corrupt  themselves,  and  by 
so  doing,  destroy  themselves.  Slow  suicide 
(not  always  slow)  is  the  result  of  such  beastli- 
ness. Shortness  of  life  in  animals  is  natural; 
in  animalized  man  it  is  both  natural  and  un- 
natural. Compare  with  Peter,  and  note  here 
also  the  similarity  and  the  dissimilarity. 

11.  Woe — a  denunciation  often  used  by 
Christ  against  hypocrites,  seldom  by  apostles 
against  any.  In  some  cases  it  expresses  grief; 
here,  merited  punishment.  Cain,  Balaam, 
and  Core— three  representative  men,  mur- 
derer, false  prophet,  and  rebel,  alike  in  that 
they  were  depraved,  but  different  in  the  form 
of  their  depravity.  Have  gone — went.  In 
the  way — figuratively,  manner  of  life.  "This 
allusion  to  Christ  is  obviously"  [woi]  "  to  the 
Cain  of  Jewish  Hagadoth"  [legends],  but  to 
the  Cain  of  Genesis.  "  St.  Jude  can  hardly  be 
charging  these  teachers  with  murder"  (Far- 
rar), which  may  be  true,  and  he  not  allude 
to  a  Jewish  legend.  See  Farrar's  "Early 
Days  of  Christianity,"  Excursus  V.  6.  To 
refer  it  to  the  murder  would  be  too  specific, 
but  Cain  was  a  man  of  excessive  self-assur- 
ance, which  drove  him  to  reject  God's  method 
of  justification,  and  at  length  to  a  most  fearful 
outburst  of  passion.  In  these  respects  the 
false  teachers  were  like  him.  Balaam.  See 
on  the  parallel  2  Peter  2:  15,  and  on  ver.  6, 
Ran  greedily — rushed  on;  stronger  than 
Peter's  "following  the  way."  The  error — 
his  covetous  life,  including  all  the  defects 
and  sins  to  which  it  would  naturally  lead. 
The  love  of  money  is  a  "root  of  all  evil." 
(1  Tini. 6:10.)     A  reward — hire;  connect  with 


JUDE. 


15 


12  These  are  spots  in  your  feasts  of  charity,  when 
they  feast  with  you,  feeding  themselves  without  fear: 


12  and  perished  in  the  gainsaying  of  Korah.  These 
are  they  who  are  '  hiilUeu  rocks  in  your  love-feasis 
when  they  least  with  you,  shepherds  that  without 


'Balaam,'  a  condensed  way  of  saying  that 
his  error  (his  covetousness,  etc.)  had  a  re- 
ward ("  wages,"'  2  Peter)  for  its  end.  In  this 
respect  the  false  teachers  were  like  Balaam. 
Core — in  the  Old  Testament,  Korah,  after 
the  Hebrew.  Core  (two  syllables)  is  in  con- 
formity with  the  Greek  Kore.  It  means  bald- 
ness} Korah  headed  a  rebellion  against 
Moses  and  Aaron.  He  was  dissatisfied  that 
he  was  not  put  into  the  priest's  office.  (Num.  le.) 
Gainsaying — (derived  from  "against"  and 
"say") — conti-adiction.  See  a  specimen  of  it 
in  Num.  16:  3,  but  his  entire  rebelliousness 
was  a  contradiction  against  Moses  and  Aaron, 
and  against  God.  Compare  Heb.  12:  3,  and 
for  the  translation  gainsaying,  see  Rom.  10: 
21.  Perished.  Jude  conceives  them  as  hav- 
ing finished  their  course  {finished,  how  dif- 
ferently from  Paul's!  2  Tim.  4:  7) ;  so  certain 
is  the  terrible  end.  The  false  teachers  are 
like  Korah,  inasmuch  as  their  spirit  and  life 
are  a  contradiction  to  the  truth  revealed  by 
God  and  taught  by  the  apostles. 

12.  These  points  them  out  as  in  ver.  10. 
By  a  series  of  five  metaphors — spots,  dry 
clouds,  autumnal  trees,  wild  waves,  wander- 
ing stars — the  description  is  continued.  Each 
metaphor  is  sharpened  by  means  of  additional 
words  or  phrases,  all  which  combined  consti- 
tute a  specimen  of  invective  as  powerful, 
probably,  as  is  to  be  found  in  Greek  or  Roman 
oratory.  Apart  from  divine  teaching,  Jude  is 
here  seen  to  be  a  man  of  more  than  common 
ability  both  in  thinking  and  in  the  art  of 
expression.  The  false  teachers.  Spots — or, 
"rocks  in  the  sea,"  Thayer  "Lex";  "hid- 
den rocks,"  Revised  Version.  That  the  false 
teachers  are  rocks  in  the  feasts  of  charity 
may  mean  either  that  on  these  rocks  the 
feasts  of  charity  are  wrecked  (their  usefulness 
as  means  of  improvement),  or  that  the  false 
teachers  aim  to  ruin  others. 

Note. — By  taking  into  the  text  the  article 
(oi),  found  in  many  manuscripts,  and  accepted 
by   Tregelles,    Tischendorf,    Lachmann,   and 


Westcott  and  Hort,  as  the  true  reading,  we 
have:  These  are  they  who  are  rocks;  or, 
these  are  they,  who,  rocks  in  your  feasts, 
feast  together.  The  former  seems  preferable. 
The  Vulgate  Version  made  the  mistake  of 
using  maculae  (spots),  the  English  Roman 
Catholic  Version  (Douay),  translated  from  the 
Vulgate,  has  spots,  and  King  James'  transla- 
tion has  the  same.  2  Peter  2  :  13  has  spots, 
but  there  the  Greek  is  different.  Rocks — that 
is,  hidden  rocks,  is  the  meaning  of  the  word 
used  by  Jude.  It  belongs  to  the  literary  singu- 
larities of  Jude,  that  instead  of  us-ing  Peter's 
word  ((TTriAot,  spiloi),  he  should  have  rejected 
it,  and  used  a  word  (crn-iAd?,  plural  o-iriAiSe?,  spi- 
lades)  sounding  very  much  like  it,  but  having 
a  diflferent  meaning. 

Feasts  ot  charity — love-feasts ;  one  word 
in  the  original  (ayanaii).  "These  feasts  were 
public  banquets  of  a  frugal  kind,  instituted 
by  the  early  Christians,  and  connected  by 
them  with  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  provi- 
sions were  contributed  by  the  more  wealthy, 
and  were  common  to  all  Christians,  whether 
rich  or  poor,  who  chose  to  partake.  Portions 
were  also  sent  to  the  sick  and  absent  mem- 
bers. These  agapae  were  intended  as  an 
exhibition  of  mutual  Christian  affection  ;  but 
they  became  subject  to  abuses,  and  were 
afterward  discontinued."  See  1  Cor.  11:  20- 
34,  for  proof  of  the  disorder  which  crept  into 
love-feasts,  apart  from  the  yet  grosser  perver- 
sions, which  were  made  by  the  false  teachers 
mentioned  by  Jude.  The  word  agapae  occurs 
only  here.  When  they  feast — in  a  reveling 
manner.  With  you.  The  others  are  not 
united  with  them  in  their  disreputable  con- 
duct, but  the  explanation  of  their  being  to- 
gether may  be  this,  that  the  lawless  men 
persisted  in  being  present.  Satan  had  been 
found  among  the  sons  of  God  before  this,  and 
such  intrusions  have  not  yet  ceased.  The 
love-feast  does  not  seem  to  have  been  enjoined. 
Though  it  was  a  spontaneous  outgrowth  of 
Christian  affection,  yet,  as  an  organic  form  of 


1 "  The  meaning  of  Korah's  name  (baldness)  has  sup- 
plied a  ready  handle  to  some  members  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  banter  Calvin  (Calvinus,  Calvns)  as  being 
homonymous  with  his  predecessor  in  schism  ;  and  it 


has  been  retorted  that  Korah's  baldness  has  a  more 
suitable  antitype  in  the  tonsure  of  the  Romish  priests." 
(Smith's  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  p.  1575,  note.) 


16 


JUDE. 


clouds  they  are  without  -water,  carried  about  of  winds  ; 
trees  whose  fruit  withereth,  without  fruit,  twice  dead, 
pluclced  up  by  the  roots; 

13  Kaging  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming  out  their  own 
shame;  wandering  stars,  to  whom  is  reserved  the 
blackness  of  darkness  for  ever. 


fear  feed  themselves;  clouds  without  water,  carried 

along  by  winds;  autumn  trees  without  fruit,  twice 

13  dead,  plucked  up  by  the  roots;  wild  waves  of  the  sea, 

foaming  out  of  their  own  i shame;  wandering  stars. 


1  Gr.  ahamea. 


gocial  life,  its  continued  existence  was  not 
demanded  by  the  spiritual  necessities  of  be- 
lievers. It  is  possible  to  countenance  forms  of 
social  life  in  a  church  under  expectation  of 
strengthening  church  ties,  which  will  have  a 
much  stronger  tendency,  by  their  unadapted- 
ness  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  renewed  soul, 
to  weaken  them  than  to  strengthen  them.  The 
purpose  to  obtain  means  to  meet  the  current 
expenses  of  a  church,  or  to  aid  a  benevolent 
enterprise,  has  no  tendency  to  sanctify  a 
worldly  way  of  doing  it.  One  may  steal  the 
livery  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in. 
Feeding  themselves  without  fear.  The 
order  of  the  Greek  would  justify  the  connec- 
tion, reveling  iogether  fearlessly.  It  would 
therefore  be  confirmatory  of  the  first  clause  of 
the  verse.  They  were  like  the  unjust  judge, 
regarding  neither  God  nor  man.  (Lukei8:4.) 
Though  in  this  case  no  terrifying  handwriting 
appeared  on  the  wall  (oao. 5:  5.25),  yet  "the 
terror  of  the  Lord"  was  not  to  be  delayed 
forever. 

But  'tis  not  so  above : 
There  is  no  shuffling,  there  the  action  lies 
In  his  true  nature;  and  we  ourselves  compelled 
Even  to  the  teeth  and  forehead  of  our  faults, 
To  give  in  evidence. 

Compare  2  Peter  2 :  13,  last  half  of  the 
verse,  and  see  comments.  '  Feeding  them- 
selves.' See  1  Peter  5:  2,  ?.,  and  comments. 
It  is  the  second  confirmation  of  rocks  in  your 
love-feasts,  and  at  the  same  time  it  strengthens 
the  clause  immediately  preceding.  They 
should  feed  others;  they  should  supply  the 
wants  of  the  poorer  members,  and  look  after 
the  Lord's  flock  in  general,  instead  of  which 
they  aim  to  gratify  their  own  sensual  nature. 
Eeveling  together  and  feeding  themselves! 
Self-pampering  ministers  will  quail  before 
the  "great  white  throne."  Clouds  without 
water.  Peter  says  (2 Peter?:  n)  ^'viells  without 
water."  See  the  comments.  It  is  another 
instance  of  likeness  and  variation.  This  met- 
aphor, as  aptly  as  Peter's,  expresses  the  char- 
acter of  the  false  teachers.  Such  men  can 
give  forth  no  refreshing,  fructifying  influence, 


and  that  for  the  reason  that  they  have  no 
spiritual  life.  Without  divine  interposition 
nothing  but  sterility  can  be  expected.  Car- 
ried Sitioxit— driven  along ;  a  touch  of  the 
pencil  to  give  deeper  shading  to  the  picture. 
Trees,  etc.  More  correctl3',  late  auturmial 
trees.  "These  deceivers  are  likened  by  the 
apostle"  [?]  "to  trees  as  they  show  in  late 
autumn,  when  foliage  and  fruit  alike  are 
gone."  (Trench,  Common  Version.)  See  Lid- 
dell  and  Scott  on  the  meaning  of  the  original, 
and  Lillie  on  the  passage.  Without  fruit — 
as  fruit  trees  are  in  late  autumn.  Twice 
dead — thoroughlj'  dead;  not,  as  Stier  says, 
"dead  first  by  the  fall,  and  a  second  time 
because  they  have  been  regenerated";  not, 
as  Wordsworth,  "dead  first  by  nature,  and 
then  raised  to  life  in  baptism,  relapsed";  not, 
as  A 1  ford,  "dead  like  a  tree  in  the  apparent 
death  of  winter,  and  like  some  trees,  really 
dead";  not,  as  Huther,  "fruitless,  but,  also, 
really  dead."  The  men  give  no  evidence  of 
having  ever  been  regenerated.  The  relapse 
of  regenerated  men  continued  through  the 
earthly  life  is  not  taught  by  Christ,  or  his 
apostles.  Plucked  upby  the  roots^because 
thoroughlj'  dead.  They  are  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  coming  into  spiritual  life.  A  tree 
drawn  out  from  the  fat  soil, and  lying  stretched 
upon  the  earth,  with  its  roots  in  the  sun, 
awaiting  the  axe,  and  the  fire  of  the  hearth,  is 
a  fearful  emblem.  The  last  stage  (the  6?«-ni«^) 
— concerning  that,  Jude  is  silent.  But  a  hint 
of  it,  under  another  metaphor,  is  given  in  the 
next  verse. 

13.  Raging  (ivild)  waves  of  the  sea. 
Thej'  are  as  restless  in  their  passions  as  the 
wild  waves  of  the  sea,  pouring  forth  their  own 
shames  like  foam.  "But  the  wicked  are  like  the 
troubled  sea,  when  it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters 
castupmireanddirt."  (isa.57:20.)  Shame  (or, 
shames,  Rev.  Ver. ),  like  most  of  the  nouns  in 
1  Peter  4:  3,  expresses  the  d iff'e rent /orwis  of 
shame.  It  is  not  the  feeling  of  shame,  not  the 
outward  reproach,  which  is  meant,  buts/iffme- 
ful deeds,  as  in  2  Cor.  4:  2  ("the  hidden  things 
of  dishonesty,"  of  sAame);  Phil.  3:  19  ("whose 


JUDE. 


17 


14  And  Enoch  also,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  proplie- 
sied  of  these,  saying,  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten 
thousand  of  liis  saints, 


for  whom    the  hlackness  of  darkness  hath  been 
14  reserved  forever.    And  to  these  also  Enoch,  the 


glory  is  in  their  shame").    Wandering  stars 

— perhaps  comets,  possibly  meteors.  Though 
the  orbits  of  comets  can  be  calculated,  and 
though  these  bodies  are  as  regular  in  their 
motion  as  the  planets,  yet,  compared  with  the 
latter,  whose  orbits  are  more  nearly  circular 
and  apparently  more  regular,  they  might 
properly  be  called  'wandering.'  Whatever 
the  bodies,  the  metaphor  is  well  adapted  to 
express  the  irregularity  of  these  men's  lives, 
compared  with  the  regularity  of  the  Chris- 
tian's life.  Fixed  stars  in  the  moral  heavens 
are  in  striking  contrast  with  ^  wanderi7ig  star?:.' 
To  whom — for  whom,  etc.  Precisely  the 
same  in  the  Greek  as  in  2  Peter  2:  17,  though 
there  the  English  is  less  forcible  by  the  use  of 
"mist."  The  blackness  of  darkness — 
though  the  nouns  are  not  alike  in  the  originsil, 
they  are  equivalent  to  the  darkness  of  dark- 
ness— that  is,  the  intensest  darkness.  This  is 
the  end  to  which  these  wandering  stars,  these 
base  men,  are  destined.  As  they  themselves 
are  darkness,  and  will  be  darkness  forever, 
the  darkness  which  is  reserved  for  them  must 
be  eternal,  and  is  tlierefore  a  positive  inflic- 
tion. 

14,  15.  Here  Jude  is  independent  of  all  the 
New  Testament  writers.  Also— connect  with 
these.  Of  (^o)  these 'also' ;  concerning  them. 
According  to  ver.  4,  these  men  were  objects 
of  ancient  prophecy.  Enoch — the  man  who 
walked  with  God.  (oen. 5:22.)  He  was  father 
of  Methusaleh.  The  English  spelling  in  1 
Chron.  1:  1  is  Henoch  ('Eiwx).  The  seventh 
from  Adam — seventh  in  the  series,  Adam 
being  reckoned  as  the  first.  There  were  five 
between  Adam  and  Enoch,  (oen.s:  i-is.)  The 
prophecy  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. In  1773  A.  D.  much  interest  was  awak- 
ened among  Christian  scholars  by  the  discov- 
ery of  manuscripts  containing  an  Ethiopic 
translation  of  the  book  of  Henoch.  It  was 
known  before  that  such  a  book  had  been  in 
circulation,  for  it  is  mentioned  by  several  of 
the  Fathers.  The  translation  was  made,  pro- 
bably, from  the  Greek  "toward  the  middle 
or  close  of  the  fourth  century."  It  is  believed 
by  some  to  have  been  written  first  in  Hebrew. 
Its  preparation  is  put  between  144  b.  c.  and 
120  B.  c,  in  the  interval  between  the  close  of 
19 


the  Old  Testament  period  and  the  beginning 
of  the  New  Testament  period.  There  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  written  by  Enoch, 
the  father  of  Methusaleh,  but,  as  it  bore  his 
name,  it  would,  of  course,  be  referred  to,  when 
reference  was  necessary,  as  the  book  of  He- 
noch. That  is  the  sense  in  which  Jude  speaks 
of  the  prophesying  as  Henoch's,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  name  Henoch  is  the  title  of  the  book,  it 
was  natural  for  Jude  to  remind  his  readers 
that  the  Henoch  whose  name  the  book  bore 
was  the  seventh  from  Adam.  Another  view 
may  be  better:  The  book  itself  uses  the  desig- 
nation, 'the  seventh  from  Adam,'  and  the 
tradition  also  may  have  included  the  phrase, 
and  therefore  Jude  need  not  be  supposed  to 
make  this  as  his  own  original  assertion.  It  is 
not  certain,  though  it  is  probable,  that  Jude 
quotes  from  the  book  itself.  He  may  have 
attained  a  knowledge  of  the  sajnng,  "Behold 
the  Lord  cometh,"  etc.,  from  tradition.  The 
book  professes  to  be  a  series  of  revelations 
from  God  to  Enoch  and  Noah  relative  to  the 
Messiah  and  his  kingdom,  and  though  not  a 
part  of  the  Bible,  5'et  it  said  by  Brooke  Foss 
Westcott  ("Introd.  to  the  Study  of  the 
Gospels,"  p.  117):  "No  apocryphal  book  is 
more  remarkable  for  eloquence  and  poetic 
vigor,  and  the  range  of  subjects  which  it  in- 
cludes is  as  noble  as  its  style."  This  cannot 
be  an  all-pervading  characteristic,  for  Fron- 
miiller  speaks  of  its  "absurd  fancies  and  its 
coarse  notions  of  the  heavenly  world,"  and 
of  its  "clumsy  fabrications"  in  contrast  with 
"the  chasteness  and  truth  of  our  canonical 
writings."  To  show  more  clearly  the  great 
superiority  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures — of  this 
Epistle  of  Jude — over  the  book  of  Henoch,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  quote  from  Fronmiiller 
yet  further,  in  illustration  of  what  he  says 
concerning  the  character  of  the  book:  "In 
the  book  we  read,  for  example,  of  the  giants, 
or  tyrants,  mentioned  in  Gen.  6,  that  'the 
women  with  whom  the  angels  had  intercourse 
conceived  and  brought  forth  great  giants,  six 
thousand  feet  in  height.  These  ate  up  all  the 
produce  of  men,  until  men  were  unable  to 
sustain  them  any  longer.'  " 

Jude  speaks  of  Henoch  as  prophesying  be- 
cause it  is  that  which  the  author  of  the  book, 


18 


JUDE. 


15  To  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all 
that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  ungodly 
deeds  which  they  have  ungodly  committed,  aud  of  all 
their  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken 
against  him. 

16  These  are  murmurers,  complainers,  walking  after 


seventh    from  Adam,  prophesied,  saying,  Behold, 
the  Lord  came  with  >  ten  thousands  ot  his  lioly  ones, 

15  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convict  all  the 
ungodly  of  all  their  works  of  ungodliness  which 
they  have  ungodly  wrought,  and  of  all  the  hard 
things  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against 

16  him.    These  are  murmurers,  complainers,  walking 


1  Or.  hi»  holy  myriada. 


and,  b}'  supposition,  tradition  also,  ascribes 
to  him.  Though  seven  was  deemed  in  ancient 
times  as  a  very  significant  number,  yet  no 
special  importance  should  be  attached  to  it 
here.  Behold  calls  special  attention.  The 
entire  passage,  with  a  little  variation,  is  found 
in  the  Ethiopic  translation.  (Fronmiiller.) 
The  liOrd  cumeth  (came).  The  see.  con- 
ceives the  event  as  already  accomplished.  It 
is  the  style  prophetic.  The  reference  is  to 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  Hoiv  the  Lord  will 
come  is  to  be  learned  from  the  Lord  himself, 
speaking  through  Luke  in  his  report  of  what 
the  angels  said  to  the  apostles,  as  thej'  stood 
gazing  into  heaven  at  the  time  of  the  ascen- 
sion :  "  This  Jesus,  who  was  received  up  from 
you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  man- 
ner as  ye  beheld  him  going  into  heaven." 
(Acts  1 :  u,  Revised  Version.)  He  Went  visibly  and 
through  the  air;  and  that  is  the  way  in  which 
he  will  come.  The  only  ether  possible  inter- 
pretation is  that  which  makes  the  angels  de- 
clare that  he  will  as  certnitily  come  as  he 
•went.  Such  a  view  excludes  reference  to  the 
manner  of  coming.  But  in  several  other  pas- 
sages the  same  words,  here  translated  in  like 
manner,  convey  more  than  the  idea  of  cer- 
tainty of  occurrence.  (Actsi:  ii.)  So  ...  in 
like  manner  (Ovrmt  .  .  .  ovrftowov).  Compare 
In  the  inamier  like  to  these  {rhv  o/ioiov  toutois), 
ver.  7.  Bengel:  "He  shall  come  in  a  visible 
manner,  in  a  cloud  with  a  trumpet,  with  a 
retinue,  and  perhaps  in  the  same  place." 
Meyer:  "In  a  cloud.  Compare  Matt.  24:  30." 
Lechler  (Lange):  "Visibly  and  in  glory." 
Hackett:  "Visibly  and  in  the  air.  The  ex- 
pression is  never  employed  to  affirm  merely 
the  certainty  of  one  event  as  compared  with 
another.  The  assertion  that  the  meaning  is 
simply  that,  as  Christ  had  departed,  so  also 
he  would  return,  is  contradicted  by  every 
passage  in  which  the  phrase  occurs.  See 
Acts?:  28;  Matt.  23:  37;  Luke  13:  34;  2  Tim. 
3:  8." 

Saints  —  holy    oties,-    literally,   as    in    the 
margin  of  the  Revised  Version,  "Aia  holy 


myriads,"  angels,  and  the  elect.  Compare 
Deut.  33:  2;  Zech.  14:  5;  Heb.  12:  22;  Rev. 
6:  11.  To  execute  judgment — either  to  sen- 
tence, or  to  apply  the  sentence  by  punish- 
ment. All — all  the  wicked.  To  convince 
— to  convict ;  in  John  16:  8,  "to  reprove." 
A  word  having  a  stronger  meaning  (to 
rebuke  sharply)  stands  as  the  commonly 
accepted  reading;  the  milder  word  is  more 
strongly  attested.  Ungodly — remarkable 
repetition,  the  word  being  used  four  times. 
In  the  last  instance  but  one,  it  is  a  verb 
(committed  in  an  ungodly  manner).  Un- 
godly deeds — literally,  deeds  of  ungodliness. 
Hard  speeches.  The  latter  word  is  properly 
suj)plied,  or,  better,  as  in  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion, things.     Compare  John  6:  60. 

And  'tis  a  kind  of  good  deed  to  say  well: 
And  yet  words  are  no  deeds. 

These  men  had  none  of  Cardinal  AVolsey's 
"well  saying."  Their  ungodly  deeds  and 
their  hard  words  had  a  terrible  consistency. 
Satan  in  Eden  and  Judas  in  Gethsemane 
clothed  ungodlj'  deeds  in  soft  words.  Against 
him — against  the  Lord,  probably  Christ.  The 
Judge  is  one  "that  no  king  can  corrupt." 
How  crushing,  in  the  next  life,  must  be  the 
weight  of  one  wurd  uttered,  without  repent- 
ance, against  such  a  One  as  Christ! 

16.  Jude's  description  is  not  ended.  These, 
the  false  teachers,  and,  as  in  ver.  10, 12,  stand- 
ing first.  It  is  as  if  Jude's  finger  were  still 
pointing  them  out.  Murmurers —  against 
every  good  thing.  Silent  respecting  the  ob- 
jects of  their  murmuring,  Jude  seems  to  give 
us  the  right  to  lay  upon  them  an  indefinite 
load.  Compare  1  Peter  4 :  9  ("grudging," 
murmuring),  and  see  comments.  Complain- 
ers—against  every  good  thing;  against  all 
who  do  not  side  with  them  in  error  and  vice, 
against  every  providence  which  conflicts  with 
their  selfish  ends.  Habitual  complaining  is  a 
very  egotistic  vice,  for  the  habitual  complainer 
is  a  habitual  proclaimer  of  his  own  wisdom. 
Christ    opened    not  his  mouth  in  complaint 


JUDE. 


19 


their  own  lusts  ;  and  their  mouth  speaketh  great  swell- 
ing worcf.v,  having  meu's  persons  in  aduiiratiou  because 
of  advantage. 

17  But,  beloved,  reuieiuber  ye  the  words  which  were 
spoken  before  of  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 

18  How  that  they  told  you  there  should  be  mockers 
iu  the  last  time,  who  should  walk  after  their  own  uu- 
godly  lusts 

19  These  be  they  who  separate  themselves,  sensual, 
having  not  the  Spirit. 


after  their  lusts  (and  their  mouth  speaketh  great 
swelling  wurda),  shewing  respect  of  persons  for  the 
sake  of  advantage. 

17  Hut  ye,  beloved,  rcnieiuber  ye   the  words  which 
have  been  spoken  belore  by  the  apostles  of  our  Lord 

18  Jesus  (  hrisi;  how  that  they  said  to  you.  In  the  last 
time  there  shall  be  mockers,  walking  alter  'their 

19  own  ungodly  lusts.     These  are  ihi-y  who  make  sep- 

20  aralious,  2  sensual,  having   not  the  Spirit.    But  ye, 


1  Gr.  their  own  (tut«  o/ungotUinat 2  Or,  natural;  or,  animal. 


against  the  most  cruel  treatment;  and,  in 
illustration  of  Paul's  freedom  from  the  vice 
of  these  men,  see  Phil.  4:  11,  12.  These 
men   would   have  yoked  well  with   modern 

pessimists. 

My  crown  is  called  content ; 
A  crown  it  is  that  seldom  kings  enjoy. 

Walking  after  their  OAvn  lusts — their  ego- 
tism the  spirit,  their  lusts  the  rule.     Compare 
1  Peter  4  :  3  with  comments,  and  2  Peter  3 :  3. 
Great  swelling  words.     Compare  2  Peter 
2:  18,  and  see  comments.     The  representation 
is  the  same.    They  indulge  in  flattering  admi- 
ration of  the  rich  and  of  any  others  of  whom 
they  think  it  possible  to  reap  some  gain. 
Oh,  how  wretched 
Is  that  poor  man  that  hangs  ou  princes'  favors! 
There  is,  betwixt  that  smile  we  would  aspire  to, 
That  sweet  aspect  of  princes,  and  their  ruin, 
More  pangs  and  fears  than  wars  or  women  have. 

As  God  looks  down  from  his  infinite  height  on 
men,  both  princes  and  subjects,  both  rich  and 
poor,  look  alike  in  stature,  as  trees  look  alike 
in  height  when  seen  by  men  from  a  moun- 
tain's top. 

17-23.  Concluding  Exhortations. 

17,  18.  The  description  of  the  false  teachers 
being  ended,  the  readers  are  exhorted  to  re- 
member that  the  coming  of  such  men  was 
announced  by  the  apostles.  But,  beloved, 
remember  ye.  'Ye'  stands  first  in  the 
Greek,  making  a  strong  contrast  between  the 
readers  and  the  wicked  men  just  described. 
Beloved.  See  the  same  form  of  address  in  ver. 
3.  To  say  that  Jude  here  shows  the  tender 
side  of  his  nature  might  be  an  unjust  impli- 
cation, for  the  severity  of  the  language  just 
used  is  not  certain  evidence  of  natural  severity 
of  spirit.  Difl^"erent  characters  require  diflfer- 
ent  treatment.  The  apostles— not  decisive 
proof  that  Jude  himself  was  not  an  apostle, 
but  if  he  was  not  one,  a  natural  manner  of 
expression.  Spoken  before  of  (by) — refer- 
ring to  time,  but  also  expressing  the  idea  of 


prophetic  speaking.  Preachers  will,  in  this 
respect,  be  most  like  apostles,  if  they  speak, 
instead  of  being  silent,  concerning  errorists. 
How,  used  in  the  Revised  Version,  as  well 
as  in  the  Commt>n  Version,  is  superfluous. 
Should  be — will  be.  M-Ockers—scoffers,  as 
in  2  Peter  3:  3.  Last  time.  See  on  1  Peter 
1 :  5.  Who  should  walk — walking.  Un- 
godly lusts — literally,  according  to  their  own 
lusts  of  ungodliness.  From  ungodliness  as 
bad  soil  grew  lusts  which  were  a  legitimate 
product  of  such  soil. 

19.  Once  more,  as  in  ver.  10,  12,  16,  Jude 
uses  the  significant  these.  The  description 
is  again  opened.  With  one  more  touch  of 
the  divine  pencil  the  terrible  portrait  will  be 
finished — to  be  hung  up  in  the  gallery  of  false 
and  immoral  teachers  as  a  warning  in  all  the 
coming  ages  of  the  Church.  Nothing,  there- 
fore, must  be  left  undone  which  may  be  nec- 
essary to  give  a  true  likeness.  Separate 
themselves.  The  pronoun  has  feeble  sup- 
port in  manuscripts,  and  is  omitted  by  the 
critics.  They  separate  from  the  church  in 
their  inner  life,  and  the  inference  mny  be 
made  that  they  will  separate  by-and-by  in 
their  outward  life.  See  1  John  2:  19.  Or  it 
may  mean  tliat  they  produce  separation — that 
is,  make  schisms  in  the  church.  Schism  pro- 
duced by  false  doctrines,  unscriptural  rites, 
and  immoral  practices  has  been  the  bane  of 
Christendom.  The  seceding  body  has  not  by 
any  means  in  all  cases  been  the  schismatic 
body.  The  body  from  which  the  secession 
was  made  has  in  some  very  important  in- 
stances been  the  heretical  bodj',  and  therefore 
schism  could  not  be  justly  ( barged  upon  the 
seceders.  A  church  history  impartially  illus- 
trative of  this  is  j-et  in  the  future.  Re-union 
in  support  of  what  the  Scriptures  teach,  and 
in  the  manifestation  of  the  divine  life,  is  an 
object  for  which  unremitting  prayer  should 
be  off'ered  by  the  Lord's  people  of  every  name. 
Sensual.   The  English  scarcely  has  an  equiv- 


20 


JUDE. 


20  But  ye,  beloved,  building  up  yourselves  on  your 
most  holy  faith,  praying  iu  tlie  Holy  (ihost, 

21  Keep  yourselves  in  the   love  of  God,  looking  for 
the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life. 


beloved,  building  up  yourselves  on  your  most  holy 

21  faith,  praying  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  keep  yourselves  in 
the  love  of  (iod,  looking  for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord 

22  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life,    i  Aud  on  some  have 


1  The  Greek  text  ia  this  passage  (.And  .  .  .fire)  is  somewhat  uncertain.     Some  ancient  authorities  read  And  aome  re/ute  while  they  dispute 

with  jou. 


alent  for  the  Greek.  '  Sensual '  is  not  exact. 
Natural  is  used  in  1  Cor.  15:  44,  46;  1  Cor.  2 
14.  In  Jaines  3 :  15  '  sensual '  is  used.  Psy- 
chical (Greek  in  English  spelling)  has  been 
used,  but  to  most  persons  it  conveys  the  mean- 
ing no  more  clearly  than  the  Greek  word 
itself,  and  animal  is  not  exact.  'Sensual' 
perhaps  comes  most  nearly  to  the  sense  of  the 
original.  The  false  teacliers  surrendered  their 
spirit  life  to  animal  life.  Having  not  the 
Spirit.  The  Greek  has  no  article.  Some 
are  very  positive  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
meant,  while  others  think  that  contrast  be- 
tween two  characteristics,  the  sensual  and  the 
spiritual,  is  intended ;  they  have  abandoned 
themselves  so  thoroughly  to  their  lower  na- 
ture that  they  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have 
any  spirit  at  all.  Which  is  the  correct  view 
it  is  difficult  to  say.  Both  the  Common  Ver- 
sion and  the  Revised  Version  Vgin  the  word 
with  a  capital,  indicating  reference  to  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

20,  21.  But  contrasts  the  errorists  with 
others.  Faith — that  which  is  external  to 
tliem,  as  in  ver.  3 — namely,  the  entire  Chris- 
tian scheme,  distinguished  by  its  leading 
characteristic.  Most  holy — "than  which," 
says  Bengel,  "none  can  be  holier."  Holy — 
sensual;  echoes  from  opposite  worlds.  Build- 
ing up  .  .  .  on.  Faith,  then,  is  their  foun- 
dation. Building  implies  growth  (-i  Peter  3:  is), 
and  building  on  the  faith  implies  stability. 
(Heb.  12:  28.)  'Building  up  yourselves'  implies 
activity  (Phii.  2:  12),  but  not  independent  and 
self-righteous  activity.  (?hii.  2:  is.)  They  are 
"Grorf's  building"  (1  cor.  3:9);  they  are"built Up" 
in  Christ  (Coi.  2: 7);  they  area  ^'spiritual  house." 
(1  Peter 2: 5.)  Praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost— in 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  personal  sphere  in  which 
they  pray.  Compare  Rom.  8:  26,  27.  The 
Spirit  is  the  awakening  and  directing  power. 
(Huther.)  Keep  yourselves,  etc.  The  main 
direction,  and  both  the  participial  clauses  of 
ver.  20,  are  subordinate  to  'keep' — that  is, 
they  express  conditions.  To  keep  themselves 
in  the  love  of  God  they  must  (1)  build  them- 
selves on  their  most  holy  faith,  and  (2)  pray 


in  the  Holy  Spirit.  Keeping  themselves  is 
another  illustration  of  human  activity,  but, 
as  in  building  up  themselves,  not  an  inde- 
pendent   activity.       (John  17  :  11 ;  1  Peter  l :  5.)      Con- 

scious  wealcness  appropriates  divine  strength, 
and  the  appropriation  impels  to  activity.  In 
the  love  of  God— i/i  love  to  God,  supposed  to 
be  awakened  in  their  hearts  by  God  himself. 
The  reasonableness  of  this  command  one  need 
not  stop  to  prove ;  its  reasonableness  \sfelt  by 
the  loving  spirit.  Love  "hath  a  syllogistic 
power."  Keep  yourselves  in  love  to  God. 
Love,  then,  is  not  an  evanescent  power;  it  is 
not  a  periodical  power.  Jude  is  here  John- 
like. (iJohn4:  7-12.)  Love  must  have  truth  for 
fuel.  Hence  the  Johannean  saying:  "Whoso 
keepeth  his  word,  in  him  verily  is  the  love  of 
God  perfected."  (iJoLn2:5.)  Keeping  the 
word— keeping  ourselves  in  love,  a  beautiful 
connection.  liOoking  for  implies  waiting 
for.  They  are  to  wait  for  that  mercy  which 
Christ  will  show  at  his  second  coming.  (Titu« 
2:13.)  See  1  John  2:  28.  This  is  given  as  a 
continually  flowing  result  of  keeping  them- 
selves in  the  love  of  God.  Unto  eternal  life 
is  not  to  be  connected,  as  by  Fronmiiller, 
with  'mercy,'  but  possibly  with  'keep  your- 
selves' ;  more  probably  with  the  nearest  par- 
ticiple, 'looking  for.'  They  are  to  look  for 
(await)  'unto  eternal  life.'  'Mercy,'  so  often 
elsewhere  ascribed  to  God,  is  here  ascribed  to 
Jesus  Christ.  The  writers  of  the  epistles  were 
entirely  free  from  scruples  relative  to  identify- 
ing the  attributes  of  the  Father  and  the  attrib- 
utes of  Christ.  'Eternal  life' — life  which  will 
have  no  end  ((mriv  aitii'ioi').  These  words  in  the 
Greek  are  the  same  as  are  found  in  Matt.  25 :  46. 
"And  these  shall  goaway  into  everlasting  pun- 
ishment: but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 
They  are  also  used  by  Paul  in  Rom.  2:7: 
"To  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in 
well  doing  seek-  for  glory  and  honor  and  im- 
mortality, eternal  life"  (i.  e.,  God  will  ren- 
der eternal  life).  The  effort  to  divest  the 
adjective  (as  is  done  by  Farrar,  "Early  Days 
of  Christianity,"  note  on  the  word  in  ver.  7) 
of  the  idea  of  endlessness  of  duration  has 


JUDE. 


21 


22  And  of  some  have  compassion,  uiakiDg  a  differ- 
euce : 

23  And  others  save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the 
fire;  haliug  even  the  gariueut  spotted  oy  the  flesh. 

24  Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  fall- 
ing, and  to  present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of 
his  glory  with  exceeding  joy, 


23  mercy,  who  are  in  doubt ;  and  some  save,  snatching 
theiu  out  of  the  tire;  and  on  some  have  mercy  with 
tear:  hating  even  the  garaieiit  spotted  by  the  flesh. 

24  Now  unto  him  tliat  is  able  to  guard  you  from 
stumbling,  and  to  set  you  before  the  presence  of  his 


proved  a  failure.  Had  the  effort  proved  suc- 
cessful, the  endlessness  of  future  bliss  would 
have  been  equally  disproved. 

23,  23.  Here  the  writer  turns  the  readers 
from  the  duty  of  attending  to  their  own  spir- 
itual state  to  the  course  which  they  should 
pursue  toward  other  members  of  the  church, 
who  are  more  or  less  in  danger  of  being  influ- 
enced by  the  false  teachers.  What  is  the 
correct  reading  is  uncertain,  and  there  is  no 
probability  that  it  will  ever  be  known,  so 
different  are  the  manuscripts  from  one  another. 
According  to  the  best  judgment  th?t  can  be 
formed,  it  consists  of  three  clauses,  and  these 
are  rendered  by  the  American  Committee  of 
Revisers :  And  on  some  have  mercy,  who  are 
in  doubt ;  and  some  save,  snatching  them,  out 
of  the  fire ;  and  on  som,e  have  mercy  with  fear  ; 
hating,  etc.  According  to  a  different  reading 
adopted  by  Lachmann,  Tischendorf,  and  Tre- 
gelles,  but  not  taken  into  the  text  by  Westcott 
and  Hort,  the  rendering  might  be:  Convict 
thetn  while  they  dispute  or  contend  with  you. 
Three  classes  of  persons  are  specified,  and 
different  modes  of  treating  them  are  enjoined. 
(Huther. )  Doubting;  who  are  in  doubt ;  not, 
as  the  Common  Version,  makiug  a  differ- 
ence. See  Acts.  10:  20;  11:  12;  Rom.  14: 
23;  James  1 :  6.  Doubting  is  the  offspring  of 
unbelief,  and  unbelief  may  be  the  child  of 
doubt.  Those  belonging  to  this  class  are  to  be 
convicted  (by  rebuking  them).  Exhortation 
will  not  suflSce.  They  are  not  immoral  like 
the  false  teachers;  do  not  hold  positive  errors; 
they  doubt,  and  are  therefore  given  to  disput- 
ing. Rebuking  may  restore;  it  may  not.  The 
duty  must  be  done,  even  though  with  the 
possibility  of  no  good  result.  And  others 
save — put  in  contrast  with  the  preceding. 
Whether  Jude  considers,  them  in  a  worse 
condition  is  not  clear.  At  any  rate,  an  effort 
must  be  made  to  'save'  them.  If  'save'  is 
emphatic,  it  seems  to  leave  the  first  named 
persons  in  a  critical  state — that  is,  as  if  their 
recovery,  to  say  the  least,  were  uncertain. 
Pulling  (s7iatching),  etc.,  shows  how  it  is  to 
be  done,  with  intensity  of  effort.  Out  of  the 
fire — whether  the  fire  of  hell  {rer.i;  2Peter3;  7) 


or  their  present  state  of  ruin,  is  uncertain. 
The  latter,  as  leading  to  the  former,  may  be 
meant.  The  third  class  ('and  on  some,'  see 
above)  appears  to  be  the  worst  of  all,  which 
may  be  inferable  from  the  clause,  'having 
even  the  garment,'  etc.,  though  the  clause  is 
not  decisive.  Yet  they  are  not  to  be  neglected. 
Have  compassion — viercy ;  engage  in  merci- 
ful efforts,  even  on  their  behalf.  With  fear. 
They  are  to  aim  to  do  them  good  in  the  spirit 
of  fear — that  is,  in  fear  lest  they  themselves 
be  harmed  by  the  contact  necessary  in  the 
pitying  effort  to  do  them  good.  Garment 
spotted  by  the  flesh — used  figuratively  for 
the  corruption  in  which  the  men  of  this  class 
have  clothed  themselves.  That  corruption  as 
seen  in  their  habits  of  life,  might  communi- 
cate itself  to  the  very  best  of  men.  Hate  it, 
therefore.  Let  it  not  work  your  harm.  The 
garment  alluded  to  was  worn  by  the  Jew  next 
the  skin.  That  sucb  moral  impurity  may 
work  out,  and  as  it  were  clothe  a  man's  very 
body,  making  it  almost  dangerous  .to  attempt 
to  do  him  good,  is  one  of  the  most  humiliating 
facts  in  the  moral  nistory  of  mankind. 

24,  25.  The  Doxology. 

24.  Now  (fie)  is  not  a  "mere  particle  of 
transition."  Tt  puts  in  some  contrast  with  the 
classes  just  named  those  who  have  remained 
steadfast.  Unto  him  that  is  able  (Rom.  16:  25). 
This  points  to  the  ground  of  all  true  hope. 
Jude  makes  no  weakening  addition,  such  as 
echoes  back  from  the  walls  of  many  a  prayer 
room.  God's  ability  to  keep  us  from  falling 
is  not  conditioned  upon  our  perseverance. 
Our  perseverance,  in  other  words,  is  condi- 
tioned, not  upon  our  tremulous  will,  but  upon 
God's  ability.  Oh,  that  we  might  be  so  con- 
scious of  our  weakness  as  to  be  also  conscious 
of  resting  only  upon  God's  omnipotence!  To 
keep — to  guard.  Falling — stumbling.  The 
original  word  was  applied  to  the  stumbling  of 
ahorse.  (Robinson.)  Here  it  expresses  mofal 
fault.  God  is  able  to  keep  us  from  striking 
against  anything  which  will  cause  us  to  fall 
— that  is,  to  lose  our  faith,  our  loyalty  to  him, 
our  soundness  in  the  truth,  our  spiritual- 
ity, and  consequently  eternal  life.     To  pre- 


22 


JUDE. 


25  To  the  only  wise  God  our  Saviour,  be  glory  and 
majesty,  domiuion  and  power,  botii  now  and  ever. 
Amen. 


25  glory  without  blemish  in  exceeding  joy,  to  the  only 
God  our  Saviour,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  be 
glory,  majesty,  domiuion  and  power,  belore  all  time, 
and  now,  and  '  for  evermore.    Ameu. 


1  Gr.  unto  all  the  agee. 


sent — to  set,  to  cause  to  stand.  (Acts6:6.) 
Faultless — literally,  without  blemish,  as  a 
lamb.  See  1  Peter  1  :  19,  and  comments. 
Thus  God  is  able  to  make  us  at  length 
like  that  spotless  Lamb  who  suffered  for 
us.  Infinite  ability  secures  a  glorious  end. 
His  glory  —  God's  essential  gloriousness. 
How  it  is  manifested  to  those  who  are  in 
heaven,  only  those  who  are  in  heaven  can 
fully  know!  It  is  possible  that  the  invisible 
God  will  be  represented  by  some  remarkable 
luminousness  answering  to  the  "glory"  (the 
bright  cloud)  which  appeared  to  the  Israel  of 
former  times ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  glori- 
fied Saviour,  as  the  centre  of  the  heavenly 
society,  will  answer  to  the  luminous  cloud. 
Very  rich  and  confirmatory  of  our  faith  is 
that  closing  petition  of  the  high-priestly 
prayer:  "Father,  I  will  that  they  also, 
whom  thou  has  given  me,  be  with  me  where 
I  am:  that  they  may  behold  my  glory,  which 
thou  hast  given  me:  for  thou  lovedst  me  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world."  (Jobni7;24.) 
It  is  possible  to  see  so  much  of  the  glory  of 
Christ,  even  here  in  the  vastness  and  orderli- 
ness and  unity  of  the  material  universe,  in 
human  hi.<torj',  in  his  own  sinlessness  and 
wisdom,  and  in  the  moral  uplifting  of  man 
by  the  efficacy  of  his  death  as  sometimes  at 
once  to  prostrate  the  soul  in  unwonted  hu- 
mility, and  fill  it  with  unwonted  praise.  With 
(in)  exceeding  joy  (exultation).  There  is 
but  one  word  in  the  original,  and  that  is  a 
word  of  exceeding  strength.  Compare  Luke 
1 :  14 ;  Acts  2  :  46.  God  is  able  to  set  us  per- 
fect before  the  presence  of  his  glory  in  exult- 
ant joy.      (1  Feler4:13.)      The  jOy  is  OUTS.      WiSC 

(ao(t>ia)  is  wanting  in  so  many  manuscripts,  that 
it  cannot  be  deemed  genuine.  It  is  rejected 
by  the  ablest  critics.  It  is  genuine  in  Kom. 
16:27.  Only.  The  writer  is  not  conrra.sting 
God  with  Christ  considered  as  the  Word 
who  was  in  the  beginning,  was  with  God,  and 
was  God,  but  with  the  gods  of  the  heathen, 
who,  being  false  gods,  had  no  existence.  The 
Old  Testament  is  pervaded  with  the  sentiment 
that  there  is  but  one  God,  but  the  sentiment 
is  in  every  case  expressed  with  reference  to 


the  many  gods  of  the  heathen.  See  ver.  4; 
John  5:  44.  Our  Saviour.  God  the  Father 
is  our  Saviour  in  the  general  sense  of  having 
made  provision  for  our  salvation.  But  it  is 
"  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lo7-d''  (as  appears 
from  the  correct  text  as  translated  in  the 
Revised  Version),  as  the  Mediator  between 
God  and  man,  that  glory,  etc.,  must  be 
ascribed  to  the  only  God.  '  Lord.'  See  1 
Peter  1 :  3  with  comments,  2  Peter  1 :  8.  Thus 
Jude  is  in  harmony  with  Peter  relative  to  the 
propriety  of  applying  the  term*Lo7-d  to  Jesus. 
The  propriety  of  such  application  has  been 
unequivocally  denied.  Be  is  inserted  in  the 
Common  Version  and  in  the  Revision,  but 
whether  the  writer  is  expressing  a  wish  is  un- 
certain. The  question  is  briefly  considered 
on  1  Peter  1:  3.  (Buttmann.  ?  129,  p.  137, 
thinks  "the  indicative  t<TTLv  [is],  decidedly 
deserves  the  preference."  Glory,  etc.  The 
doxology  is  full.  iJo where  else  in  the  New 
Testament  are  found  combined  in  a  doxology 
these  four  words :  'glory,  majesty,  dominion, 
and  power.'  The  first  and  the  third  are  often 
used,  (i  Peter  4: 11.)  By  majesty  is  meant 
greatness.  The  elory,  greatness,  dominion, 
and  power  of  God  !  While  we  strive  to  compre- 
liend  them,  and  fail  to  do  so,  we  should  praise 
our  Creator  for  making  us,  unlike  the  most 
sagacious  of  the  animals,  able  to  apprehend 
the  fact  of  their  existence.  There  is  a  sense  in 
which  agnosticism  is  a  lie ;  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  it  is  a  truth.  The  animals  are  the  only 
perfect  agnostics;  and  this  is  easily  explained 
— they  know  as  little  of  themselves  as  of  God. 
After  'power'  should  be  inserted,  before  all 
time  (n-pb  -navTo^  toO  aitifos),  for  which  there  is 
sufficient  manuscript  authority.  Thus  Jude 
sw-eeps  from  the  eternity  past,  through  the 
now  of  the  earthly  period  to  the  eternity  to 
come  {for  evei-more).  See  on  Amen  in  1 
Peter  4:  11. 

Thus  sublimely  ends  this  brief  but  remark- 
able Epistle.  It  is  unique  in  thought  and 
expression,  yet  receives  little  attention  from 
the  pulpit  and  the  private  Christian.  Not 
less  certainly  is  it  needed  by  the  Christian 


JUDE. 


23 


world  of  to-day  than  it  was  needed  by  those 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  Jude ;  and  it  will 
continue  to  be  needed  as  long  as  the  world 
stands.  It  should  be  more  frequently  used  as 
a  means  of  instruction  and  warning.  Error 
and  immorality,  still  greatly  prevalent,  should 
be  resisted  in  their  beginnings. 

A  little  fire  is  quickly  trodden  out : 

Which,  being  sutfered,  rivers  cannot  quench. 

In  some  parts  of  Christendom  to-day  error 
is  more  insinuating  than  in  the  times  of  Jude. 
It  is  more  insinuating  because  clothed  in  the 
garb  of  purity  and  charity.  "How  can  that 
be  error,"  it  is  asked,  "which  is  taught  by 
men  of  acknowledged  excellence?" — a  ques- 
tion which  is  itself  born  of  error,  for  it  is 
the  rationalistic  method  of  inquiry.     History 


shows  that  serious  errors  have  been  taught 
by  men  the  genuineness  of  whose  Christian 
character  cannot  be  doubted.  Though  the 
science  of  Biblical  interpretation  was  never  so 
exact  in  some  quarters  as  it  is  to-day,  yet  a 
principle  of  interpretation  is  seeking  a  recog- 
nition which  leaves  no  common  ground  for 
Christian  men — the  principle  that  the  Bible 
must  be  explained  by  one's  spiritual  con- 
sciousness. Such  a  standard  is  too  variable 
to  be  safe;  and,  if  generally  adopted,  error 
would  multiply  more  rapidly  than  ever.  It 
must  be  confessed,  however,  notwithstanding 
this  feature  of  the  times,  that  the  union  of 
error  with  immorality  still  continues  in  such 
a  degree  as  to  make  the  Epistle  of  Jude  worthy 
of  studj',  and  the  loyalty  of  Jude  worthy  of 
imitation. 


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